Blogs may not motivate change
A 2008 study, “Credibility and the Use of Blogs Among Professionals in the Communication Industry,” published in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly shows that traditional journalists rarely to occasionally use blogs to supplement their stories. The authors (Sweetser, Porter, Chung, & Kim) found that most journalists believe that information found in blogs is not considered credible, but they believed that blogs would have an impact on the news industry.
Younger journalists who read blogs found the application to be more credible than journalists who did not consume information from blogs, according to the study.
Credibility research shows that people who consume a specific type of publication (e.g., newspapers, blogs) will perceive content from that publication type to be more credible. If journalists do not read blogs, they will likely rely on stereotypes when assessing the value of blog content. Thus, if journalists do not perceive bloggers or citizen journalists as a threat or of value, experimentation will not as likely occur in newsrooms because perceived competition from outside sources is not a major motivator for change.
*Sweetser, K.D., Porter, L.V., Chung, D.S., & Kim, E. (2008). Credibility and the use of blogs among professionals in the communication industry. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 85(1), 169-185.
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A very interesting blog. You have been bookmarked.
Thank you for the interest. Serena