If the 20^th century was the professionalization of journalism, then the 21^st century will be the re-emergence of the amateur eyewitness. These prophetic words are playing themselves out right now as mass media moves away from the professional and closer to the amateur. This move is happening for several reasons, and is best represented by Josh Benton’s “Curve of Journalistic Interestingness.”

The Curve details how “eyewitness reporting rendered in real time via the blog represents an interesting and worthy kissing cousin to long-form narrative journalism.” (Clark, “From Blog to Narrative”) Instead of the “boring” conventional journalism methods and approach to reporting the news, close-up, interactive, lively reporting helps make the unfamiliar more familiar to readers.

Benton’s use for blogs is exactly where journalism needs to go. Instead of just waiting for the New York Times to post in red their most current update to a story, people who are at the event or participating in the event will provide the news. Benton believes that getting the thoughts onto the computer and immediately sent to all corners of the blogosphere is more important than traditional journalists spending up to 24 hours analyzing data and creating what would be then stale stories.

Another aspect of Benton’s ideas about blogging being interesting coincides with video blogging. Since practically everyone has a camera in their cell phone, the immediacy of video footage to reach the Web is almost instantaneous now. And with youtube, amateur bloggers/journalists can upload that video footage from the phone.

I think Benton’s ideas here are fascinating, but I feel that investigative journalism by amateurs is lacking due to youtube’s agreement with the government not to show real-time death, rapes, or military operations in Iraq. If a policeman shoots an innocent man and a Samaritan catches it on tape, good luck finding a Web site that will show it. We still have limits to how much we can see online – “Videodrome” hasn’t come to fruition yet.

Discussion questions:

1. Why does Benton think we should look to non-traditional journalists for news and not the traditional media?
2. How could blogs be a detractor from conventional, truthful, respected traditional media? In other words, if blogs are even more immediate than a daily newspaper or Web site, how could a move away from professional journalists to amateurs with no school or training be an issue, especially in relation to media law/media ethics?  

Philip E. Agre’s paper “Finding Your Voice: Writing For a Webzine” provides the reader exceptional points on how to pick up the proverbial “pen”, or in this case, click away on the “keyboard,” and start writing. Developing a public voice injected with private thoughts can be difficult for some, but it’s not impossible.

Agre said that first and foremost, that… “In order to have a public voice, you have to care about something.” (Agre, “Finding Your Voice,” 3). Once someone has figured out what their passion to write on will be, Agre transitions his article to 10 “rules of thumb” that every ‘zine writer should know.

I think his most critical point is to “…say something interesting right away.” (Agre, “Finding Your Voice,” 3). There is no point to try to gain readers to your Webzine or blog if you can’t attract readers. Literary prose is a wonderful tool to have if people are reading it. Would Shakespeare be the most famous playwright if no one read his plays?

My other favorite point to becoming a player in the public sphere is number 3 – have a point, and know what it is. This ties into the previous rule because great ideas that don’t make coherent points can be lost in translation.

Agre’s discussion about the future of ‘zines and their boon to creating “communities of practice” have transitioned into the Weblogs of today. Instead of only an Associated Press or New York Times reporter telling folks back home what is happening in Iraq, thousands of soldiers are providing first-hand accounts through simple and quick blogs. And for some mil-bloggers, they receive more hits than the elite media, so these quiet and faceless communities may be adding more to Jurgen Habermas’ concept of the public sphere than we currently know.

New bloggers shouldn’t expect their Web sites to get millions of hits from the get-go. A public voice can be difficult to manifest, but if you find that not many people are reading your work or you find the blog is getting stale, don’t give up and know that you are not alone. “You may feel alone, but that just means that you haven’t found your community yet.” (Agre, “Finding Your Voice,” 3). Keep up the writing, relax and before the writer knows it, a life-changing comment may be gracing the blog very soon.

Discussion questions:

Why does Agre stress the importance of developing a public voice, and should you bring your private thoughts into your public blogs?

How does Agre differentiate between a commercial voice and a private voice, and how should both facets be implemented into a Webzine?