Techcrunch blogger Erick Schonfeld realizes that as more blogs are building up professional writing staffs, more newspapers and magazines seem to require their writers to write more blogs, consequently the distinction between blogs and traditional news sites becomes almost nonexistent.

The Techmeme Leaderboard shows that the top spots are almost evenly occupied by blogs, which are all professional such as TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb, and traditional news organizations that have the most active journalist bloggers, such as CNET and NY Times.

Blogging is a conversation with readers that doesn't have to start out knowing all the facts. It is more immediate, argumentative, and speculative than traditional news sources. However, readers develop trust for certain sources, whether they are blogs or news sites, so if a blogger or journalist reaches that level, they have a responsibility to deliver the truth as best they can.

Though blogging has shifted away from long-form, narrative journalism to "breaking news, reporting facts and providing analysis," Schonfeld writes that it is actually harder than writing in-depth articles because blogging never stops. There is always news to cover, and although there may not be enough time to cover it, bloggers feel a need to break a story. Thus, although they hardly have time to proofread posts, readers have become copy editors and fact checkers by pointing out mistakes in comments.

"More often than not, putting up partial information is what leads us to the truth--a source contacts us with more details or adds them directly into comments," writes Schonfeld.

People may question whether a blog is actually a professional media site, but that distinction is becoming increasingly meaningless, since most blogs have become both. They are also filters as they are a source, which is an advantage over traditional news organizations.

"With the media industry in a state of flux, reporters recognize that it is more and more difficult to confine oneself to standard roles and responsibilities. The proliferation of online news sites and blogs has put incredible pressure on traditional media outlets, forcing many to reallocate or cut staff in order to compete," stated Dave Armon, Chief Operating Officer of PR Newswire.

Source: TechCrunch and WebProNews through I Want Media