The Oregon Commentator states in an article today that blogging is a useful tool for advocacy journalism and "original" reporting. It believes the blogosphere is ideal for advocacy journalism since there are "no time, length or editorial constraints" and information is immediately available to everyone. 

However, the Oregon Commentator quotes Quark Soup's blogger David Appell, who thinks that there seems to be a credibility gap, since amateur bloggers "spread useless gossip" and professional bloggers are "useless" due to the fact that they are focused on posting many items per day.

"It takes blood, sweat, and tears, it takes going out and looking at rivers, pouring over government reports and spreadsheets, hiking to the tops of mountains for the big picture, calling 25 people a day -- precisely the thing the blogosphere does least of," said Appel.

To this, blogger Andrew Sullivan argued that blogs are "a form of conversation, not a medium of absolute authority." Sullivan adds links to other articles or includes informative content within the blog entry. He considers himself a Web DJ, "re-mixing and finding and editing the thoughts and images and facts of others."

Source: Oregon Commentator