Blog Does Not Mean Blab

In the seven months or so I've been blogging I have been become very aware that there is a great responsibility in speaking out regarding topics and news I hear in casual conversation in business settings. I may even hear something said in a public forum that the speaker may not want repeated in another distribution channel, such as a blog. The other responsibility one has when becoming a blogger is to post items often enough so they are perceived as "serious." If you don't post enough, people begin to ignore or forget you. It's those people who irresponsibly dispense information that they haven't checked for accuracy, then go to the added extent of expressing an ill-informed point of view. This can be dangerous because media has been increasingly using blogs as a foundation for news stories. A survey of journalists, released today by Brodeur (http://blogs.mediapost.com/research_brief/?p=1621) says that reporters use blogs to help shape the tone of stories.

If a blog is sensationalistic in its treatment of subjects and individuals, a reporter might use the tone of the blog to help shape the way that person or topic is portrayed in follow-up news stories. All bloggers should take a vow that when they write, they are using povs based upon fact and not hearsay or innuendo. They should also be careful to balance their opinions with reaction from those holding different viewpoints. That's the credo that traditional journalists subscribe to. Bloggers should be no different.