My first introduction to weblogs was xanga. One of my friends set up an account and would just write about what was happening in his life, like a daily journal. It was semi-interesting, but I bet it would be pretty boring to anyone who didn't know him. Then I started finding out more people I know who have xanga. A couple girls I know would write these insanely long entries on their deepest emotions and feelings about life. It was intense. And I pretty much thought that's all that existed in the form of weblogs.
Then I got into this online journalism class and learned about weblogs that can actually be interesting to outside readers. Weblogs can be used to explain and teach people about certain topics, as well as give readers an insight into the blogger's thoughts on a topic.
We were sitting in the newsroom one day when someone announced they heard that the actor who played Napolean Dynamite had died. I think it was Lisa who immediately said, check the blogs. Somehow our main source of information became checking up on rumors on people's blogs.
As I started writing this, I was thinking, "no way," blogging will not become an important part of journalism. But now I am thinking that maybe it will. While some blogs do contain valid and useful information, a lot of the information can only be considered opinion or rumors. However, I think blogs will be important because most journalism starts with rumors. We hear something that may be news, check it out, and then try to find a valid source to talk about the topic. In the campus newsroom right now, our main sources for story ideas are other news sources like the Kansan, Lawrence Journal-World and online media sites. But I think eventually the reporters will tap more into what the people are saying about life on their personal weblogs. I'm sure there's news there that we may never have known without blogs, but it will still be difficult to sort through all of them, so who knows? I guess we'll just have to find out.
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