The blogging-as-journalism debate

I found a post on the Cairns Blog that I thought others would find thought-provoking. Should bloggers get first amendment protection? The blog writer asks Kevin Blangston, a staff attorney for the Electronic Freedom Foundation, who responded:

“Yes. A blogger is a journalist if they are doing journalism.”

The writer notes that this shifts the inquiry away from who is a journalist to what is journalism. And he quotes Stanford University journalism professor Ted Glasser in support of this idea:

“We shouldn’t have a two-tiered First Amendment that gives more protections to some individuals than others,” he said. “We are much better off defining the act of journalism rather than who is a journalist.”

Read blogger Anthony Sanchez' full account here.

A bit of multimedia that Al's Morning Report highlighted recently. It is a Sarasota, Fl. Herald Tribune report on 150 teachers still in state school districts despite serious issues with their behavior around students. It's called "Broken Trust." Al likes the idea that readers don't have to scroll down the page to continue reading; they get to flip a page. Check it out for navigation ideas.