OhioNews Bureau ONB COLUMBUS: Mark Glaser, host of MediaShift, a Public Broadcasting System Weblog devoted to tracking how new media are changing society and culture, posted an informative story Thursday about the blurring of the distinction between bloggers and journalists. Glaser, a self-described journalist, critic, facilitator and new media expert, said that the “time-worn debate of Bloggers vs. Journalists has finally run its course.” He made his case that while “the extremists in this argument have had the stage shouting at each other,” the reality of this range war is that “mainstream media reporters have started blogging in droves, while larger blog operations have hired seasoned reporters and focused on doing traditional journalism." Highlighting arguments and perspectives made by well-known bloggers that help explain the tussle between new online media and established print groups over turf, respectability, trustworthiness, honesty and other issues that have previously been used to distinguish the new kids on the block from the people who thought they owned the block, Glaser comes to the important issue of securing press credentials from organizations who, for one reason or another, have a built-in bias against bloggers or new-media journalists. With a helpful assist from Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, a group he formed to defend First Amendment rights of bloggers, Glaser included two cases on credentialing agencies denying established reporters credentials to cover an event like a presidential debate or have access to legislative floor sessions. Glaser led off with the case of a of Erin Kotecki, a California reporter turned blogger who couldn’t cover the GOP debate because the credentialing agency for the debate, the L.A. Police Department, stonewalled her on her request. He then featured the story about ePluribus Media’s unsuccessful attempt to secure Ohio Statehouse press credentials from the group created by the Ohio General Assembly to credential established groups and their reporters.

John Spinelli was a reporter at the Ohio statehouse but now that he is online he is getting the cold shoulder. In his case the credentialing is determined by a cadre of traditional media types. No surprise then that they have been less than welcoming. [Glaser, MediaShift]

“I think the argument about bloggers vs. journalists has been over for years. We’ve all co-existed just fine for a while now, and the truth is, the distinction is less relevant every day. There are thousands of journalists who now blog, and there are lots of bloggers who are trained journalists.” [Jim Brady of Washingtonpost.com, MediaShift]

"Not only was it a first for a blogger to win this award, but it showed that a new type of hybrid online journalism — combining original reporting, aggregation and audience involvement — could produce top-notch investigative work." [Glaser, MediaShift]