US: blogs and citJ essential to journalism, in public’s mind

Posted by Jean Yves Chainon on February 16, 2007 at 12:55 PM

Just about everybody in the media now agrees that blogs and citizen journalism will strongly influence the media landscape of the future. But how much so? A WeMedia / Zogby Interactive poll showed that 74% of Americans believe citizen journalism will play a vital role in the future of American journalism.

This was an online poll that probably attracted a majority of pro-bloggers and citizen journalism.

Furthermore, 86% of media insiders said they thought bloggers will play an important part in the future of journalism.

For over half of the respondents (53%), Internet-based free media is the greatest opportunity for the future of professional journalism. Three in four (76%) thought the Internet was positive for overall quality of journalism.

This contrasts with the 72% who said they were dissatisfied with the quality of American journalism today.

Blogs and citizen journalism, while overwhelmingly perceived as important and influential for quality journalism, are still a seldom trustworthy source. This will be a key criteria in the future, to see in which way alternative journalism really helps out – or weakens – quality journalism.

Newspapers must thus not only embrace these new forms of media and journalism, but also work at making them more trustworthy, to provide a combination of strengths. The credibility and trustworthiness of professional journalism mixed to the voice and conversation of bloggers.

For more details on the poll, click below.

Source: Zogby