No, I am not being sarcastic.
Professor Chris Roush of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, provided commentary on changes in store for real estate journalists in Charlotte, N.C., last week. _The outlook is bleak for the ink-and-paper business, which many insiders say without hesitation is “sucking wind.” The lasting effects of the Internet on traditional print journalism in years to come are profound._
> In Philadelphia newsrooms, the plants are no longer watered. In Akron, Ohio, reporters face a shortage of notebooks.
>These are just a few blows being felt by newspapers nationwide amidst a steadily shrinking print classified advertising share and waning subscriptions that have made newsroom staff cuts a regular thing. Professor Chris Roush of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, noted these changes to real estate journalists in Charlotte, N.C., Friday afternoon.
One of his main conclusions in the article [blogs spell future for real estate journalism [Inman – subscription]](http://www.inman.com/hstory.aspx?ID=51274) [I have included the relevant parts of the article above if you don’t have a subscription.]
There are dozens of well-known real estate blogs today, Roush said, pointing to [Curbed.com](http://www.curbed.com), the Matrix (us!) and [The Real Estate](http://therealestate.observer.com/) as examples.
While I am flattered that we were mentioned as a _well-known real estate blog_, along with the usual suspects, we as well as Curbed and The Real Estate are hardly a threat to journalism. Blogging isn’t really about journalism, even though many bloggers clearly are journalists. The hype about blogging rendering real estate journalism as obsolete in the traditional sense is getting old.
Remember: [bloggers aren’t journalists, they’re publishers [Piaras Kelly PR]](http://pkellypr.com/blog/2006/0220/bloggers-arent-journalists-theyre-publishers/).
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I have to agree, bloggers are not journalists. Most bloggers simply regurgitate what they’ve read, elsewhere.
Having said that, bloggers could certainly morph into journalists. I think it’s too soon to say whether or not that will happen. I know that for my blog, I’ve thought that the only way to get people to continue to visit is to have fresh content, and, at some point, I’m going to have to research and write my own stories!
Blogging isn’t really about journalism, even though many bloggers clearly are journalists. The hype about blogging rendering real estate journalism as obsolete in the traditional sense is getting old.
Where exactly are you drawing your line defining the difference? It looks like you are making the same generalization mistake. Some journalists are bloggers, some bloggers are journalists. All gather information and write about it for an audience. The only difference between a blogger and a journalist is the media on which they publish.
As to real estate journalism becoming obsolete it would depend on the target audience. If the majority of real estate purchasers reads the web rather than the newspaper then it may be true. I would gamble that there is room enough for all types of journalism.
Jayson – “The only difference between a blogger and a journalist is the media on which they publish.” Thats not really true – your comment pays short shift to journalists. I’d define a journalist as someone who researches first-hand rather than cull together other work by journalists and bloggers. I agree that journalists blog and bloggers write in other mediums. I also agree that there is room for all. Thanks for the thoughts.
I see the blogosphere as a world-wide town square and blogs the podiums one steps upon to express a point of view and/or provide news/information/entertainment/commentary or any combination thereof.
Some who take the podium are journalists, many are not & that’s what you want in a diverse town square. An audience will gather around a podium if they want to hear what the blogger, or their audience, has to say. Sometimes the news is not what’s interesting but the commentary upon it.
I have read blogs and found the comments to be as insightful as the posts.
As for original news gatheres and news disseminators, society obviously needs both.
Many newspapers are in fact nothing more than disseminators of wire service news stories—and that’s fine.
One HUGE benefit of blogs over traditional print media (esp. news) is that readers can challenge the posts’ content IMMEDIATELY (& mostly uncensored) whereas to do so to a NYT story requires some time, effort, and a pass at the gate. And if left unchallenged some news stories can pass as gospel (God forbid).