is everybody a journalist?

Is everybody now a journalist? Some forcefully argue that everybody now indeed is a journalist, with the arrival of the internet, particularly with the ease of blogging. Is that really true?

Of course, we need not to equate blogging with journalism. Some blogs might be a form of journalism – indeed even newspapers increasingly experiment with blogs as a publishing platform – but most blogs are certainly not meant or seen as journalism.

Given that some blogs, however few, would arguably qualify as journalism, what makes them qualify and not others? Is it the quality of the content? Is it the intention of the author? The size of the audience? Or perhaps the distinction lies in the process of how the content is produced? In other words, what is journalism in the digital age?

Another question comes up: given that potentially anybody who can go online can publish a blog and practice journalism, why do only some people practice “journalism” and not others? Or if asked differently, if everybody can become a journalist, why doesn’t everybody do so? A starting point to consider this question is that technology is only one constraint to practice journalism – other constraints can be leisure time, literacy and education, a level of civic and political engagement. We can draw from existing political theory analyzing citizenship – why are some citizens more engaged than others – for relevant clues. We compare “journalistic” citizens with other citizens. But another starting point departs from the comparison between “journalistic” citizens and journalists. Why were “journalistic” citizens previously unable to join and participate in the journalistic field and what allows them to participate now? One answer is that there is no difference – it is the same old elite, e.g. – those who are the A-list bloggers are all male and highly educated. This arguments hits some, but misses most of the point, however. While it is true that it is a select few who gets most of the attention in the blogosphere – and you could consider them the elite – it would be wrong to think of them as the same old elite. They are elite, but a different elite. They bring a different expertise to the table.