Print Vs. Blog

In the age of the World Wide Web, the way in which information reaches the mass audience is drastically changing. A routine of reading the New York Times with a cup of coffee on Sunday morning has since been replaced with a quick glance through your Yahoo news feed between classes. And so a line is drawn between multiple forms of mass media, in this case, traditional print media and a recent method of conveying information and opinions, blogging.

At first, I thought that differentiating these two forms of media would be simple, but when it came time to do the assignment, I was perplexed. There are so many qualities that make print media and blogging dissimilar that it is easy to get confused. So, I thought the best way to tackle the topic was to first simplify these two mediums to eventually conclude with more complex differences.

Of course, print media is textual (although increasingly internet based) with occasional use of photography. Blogging, however, is able to include another effective medium, video, something not possible in a traditional, tangible newspaper.

Another opportunity blogging creates that print media cannot is the ability to commentate. This quality is extremely crucial because it allows a dialog to be created. With print media, the conversation is between readers of a certain publication. However, with blogging, a discussion can exist between not only readers, but authors to their readers as well. This commentary allows voices from all backgrounds to be heard.

The ability and availability to publish is a key element that separates these two forms of media. A respectable periodical will usually only publish articles by their own staff- journalists, experts, etc. Essentially, publications can pick, choose, and filter the information that reaches their audiences. Essentially, this “filtering” of information is left to an experienced journalist. Blogging, however, operates very differently. Anyone can create their own blog and communicate his or her thoughts and opinions to the public. This is crucial because journalism, a practice of truth and attempted objectivity, can become biased and opinionated. And so this biased information can reach large audiences very quickly. Established blogs such as The New York Time’s “The Lede” or the Huffington Post use all of the qualities and standards of a newspaper and add video and commentary features. On the other hand, there are blatantly biased forms of blogging that would not be permitted in the world of publication. For example, the infamous blog, Perezhilton.com is an opinionated piece covering various topics in celebrity gossip. However, it is important to remember that this blog has thousands of habitual readers.

At the end of this assignment, I am still unaware of what truly differentiates these two mediums. As mass media evolves it is shaping the way in which we obtain and verify information. Unfortunately, with the widespread use of the internet, content is becoming less important. We now live in a world of convenience and rapidity, a place where the blogosphere can thrive.