Blogging - The end of media, as we know it. Or is it?

It has been some time since my last post, primarily due to the fact that I was debating on the effectiveness of blogging as a communication tool. I have been doing a lot of search, and have found that bloggers tend to believe that public relations professionals and journalists act as gatekeepers of information - rather than disseminate the information in the true form.

This has intrigued me no end. And an interesting article in the New Yorker has added fuel to the fire.

I believe blog is a communication tool just as the print or broadcast media. Today's bloggers remind me of trainee reporters in media - full of enthusiasm but little else. As a tribe, we need to understand that freedom of expression does not absolve us of basic ethical responsibilities. Otherwise we will end up like Dean Jones, currently embroiled in the Hashim Amla controversy - with egg on our face.

Will blogs replace newspapers? I find in hard to believe that it will happen in the short term. First of all, there is the issue of last mile connectivity. How many cities in the world have wi-fi connectivity? How many public transportation systems are internet enabled?

Then there is the issue of personal touch. Would you like to read your paper in the tube or on the net? How many of us stopped subscribing to newspapers after the advent of tv and the internet?

A blog is an online diary - and diaries always remain personal in nature, always subjective, opinionated and passionate. The traditional media will need to present news the opposite manner - in a dispassionate, objective and fair manner. That the media sometimes forgets this is a matter of concern, but it is not a life-threatening disease, it is just a symptom.

Maybe blogs can turn out to be the bitter medicine require to cure the media, rather than kill it!