Here 's a blog posting, from a so-called journalist, that is drawing some discussion this morning -- World Tempus Rant #4 -- The Purple Haze of Bloggers

So what do you think? Is there this great divide between journalists and bloggers? And where might the discussion forums fit into the food chain?

Jeff

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When celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton can dub himself the “Queen of All Media” and mainstream news outlets pick up and reprint this proclamation, something’s gotta be wrong. Ditto for the 13 year-old fashion blogger given front row seats at the fashion shows.

Bloggers are a force to be reckoned with, but very few companies know how to “reckon” with them. Indeed, the Swiss watch industry, not the most technology-savvy to begin with, is understandably leery of bloggers. The Internet is a great democratizing force, allowing everyone a voice and way to publish their point of view. The challenge with bloggers, in the watch industry and elsewhere, is that – unlike journalists, who have editors, publishers, proofreaders and fact checkers (the so-called “gatekeepers”) supporting them and overseeing what is published – bloggers are on their own, writing what they want about whatever they want. Once they have a following, however, a group of people who read them, they become important to the brands.

Journalists are bound by a certain amount of objectivity – it’s not my job, for example, to tell you how beautiful or amazing a certain watch is. It’s my responsibility as a journalist to present the facts, to introduce the brand and its history, to talk about the way the watch was designed and developed, to describe the manufacturing and assembly process; then you make up your own mind about whether you like it or not.
Bloggers have the freedom to write whatever they want to – to talk about what they like about a watch, why they like it, what they don’t like. No one checks their work, so it’s often riddled with typos and inaccuracies, and the pictures and videos are not that professional. Sure, these blogs are refreshingly honest, but at the same time, it’s just one person’s opinion and no one knows what agenda they have.

Also, for many bloggers, it’s more about being first than being accurate. Does it really matter who posts the first picture of the next great watch? For me, it’s all about presenting the right story, not being the first with little story at all. In mainstream media, there have been several instances where the drive to be first has resulted in serious mistakes – remember when Frank Sinatra was declared dead a full three months before his actual death!

I don’t know what the future holds for blogs, but there is no denying that they are influential and have to be dealt with. In fact, the only way for real journalists to counteract this purple haze of opinions and inaccuracies is to beat them at their own game: i.e. by getting on the web, as I am here at WorldTempus.