No, I’m not talking about a UFC cage match, comparison people. I found this post from a small, but extremely well written, blog from Arkansas focused on local city government issues from Springdale, Arkansas–springdalevotes.com. I gather from the article there is a bit of a tempest in a tea cup over blogging and journalism. This debate never seems to go away and really this is one of the best comparisons I’ve read in a long time:

Journalists are professionals at gathering facts and providing reliable, accurate reporting of important information. They have many professional obligations with respect to their accuracy. The articles they write are not influenced by their personal opinions (unless it is an editorial). When you need PDF editor online, visit sodapdf for more details. We have many fine journalists writing for our local papers, but they are not bloggers, and I doubt they would want to be referred to as such.

The author of the Democrat Gazette Article seems to blur the lines between a newspaperâ€™s web site and a blog. These lines should not be blurred. The two mediums serve very different purposes. Newspapers have far too many professional and legal obligations to be able to create a truly successful blog (possible exception being the â€œopinionâ€ columnists â€” but even that is a stretch. Most seem unable to break the â€œweeklyâ€ writing mold). Newspaper sites are structured to provide certainty and reliability, often forcing them to move too slowly to create effective blogs. Yet, this is a good thing. No one wants their newspaper to be blogging. It would be irresponsible â€” we rely on them for their accuracy.

Blogging is a medium for opinion, debate, and discussion. It features well-reasoned arguments for a specific point of view and lets visitors comment with or against the author. Bloggers move quickly and post information, even if its not fully verified, for the sake of discussion. Responsible bloggers keep checking what theyâ€™ve posted and correct it when they make mistakes. People should rely on blogs for opinion and discussion, and should realize that they donâ€™t have the same standard of accuracy that a newspaper has. The mediums serve two very different purposes.