The Blog

A post on Simply Zesty has set me thinking.

Blogging is a form of writing, but is it journalism?

To answer this, all the qualities of journalism would have to be thrashed out for hours.  

How to compare an ongoing diary/literary enterprise, which is written in the relative comfort of one's home with the cut and thrust of finding "the truth" in today's social turmoil; slapping it up in front of an exhausted editor whose sole thought is of lunch;  making a case for the inclusion of half a sentence that may (or may not) be litigous;  wondering if the piece may, in fact, be spiked and buried at midnight in a frenzy of indecision; looking in bewilderment at an ever decreasing paycheck that does not cover costs...

And the eternal talking...

There is no comparison that really holds water between blogging and journalism.

The blog is to journalism
 what sharpening one's pencil is to writing...