Are Bloggers Journalists?

It’s a new question that has been brought up in the wake of new and faster technology. Are online bloggers who have adapted to the growing trend of social media actually journalists? Or better yet, are they protected by the same laws that protect journalists from losing their jobs or from being physically harmed? Well that’s something that blogger, Crystal Cox, found out in an Oregon court case this week.

Cox had managed to uncover huge findings on an investment firm and its co-founder from an unnamed source. The court judge ruled in the libel case that her “attack” on the firm was defamatory and that she was in no way protected under the state’s shield law that is in place to protect journalists.

The judge concluded that the law made no mention of digital media despite it mentioning a wide range of forms of communication, and demanded that she would reveal her secret source. The judge mentioned that she didn’t meet any of his criteria for journalistic credentials and practices, and was there for not a part of the news media.

Not a part of the news media? The majority of today’s major publications have gone the way of the internet with blogs like Tumblr and Wordpress, and the frequent use of micro-blogging in Twitter posts. Freelance journalists who have lost jobs, and sadly enough, hope for print media are on the internet right now as we speak. They report the news faster than any print or televised media can, and they so with more of an audience.

You want to know where I first heard that Osama Bin Laden was dead—the internet. Would you like to know where I watched the last few Presidential addresses? It was the internet. I wake up in the morning and know I can catch everything that happened in the last two minutes on Twitter from credible sources, and U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez is saying that stories that break first online aren’t protected by the law?

Crystal Cox shouldn’t have to pay $2.5 million dollars for defamation because of an out of date law. Eventually (there is a strong possibility) there may be no forms of print media. Obviously there are more people getting their news online with print media slowing down since the internet was popularized, and I think the judge’s ruling was a low blow to everyone who writes, reads, listens, and watches anything on the internet.

It’s definitely terrible news for all bloggers and other media solely publishing via the internet who have decided to grab a laptop and punch out a thoughtful, well organized, and truthful news story. This case now unnecessarily diminishes any digital work and puts all people in Cox’s situation in extreme danger.

Below is popular YouTube vlogger, or video blogger, Phillip Defranco’s take on the case.