Who Is a Journalist?

Jacob Weisberg at Slate articulates the whole bloggers as journalsts debate with a headline that reads, rather profoundly: Who Is a Journalist?Anybody who wants to be.

In it he considers the current state of play in journalism and makes some great conclusions that are worthy of reprint here:

“For journalism, the Internet is having an even more immediate but no less beneficial effect. Blogs and Internet publications have essentially solved one of the biggest worries of the past few decades, that media consolidation is diminishing independence and plurality of voices….those who advocate a special legal privilege for journalists must accept that anyone who thinks he’s a journalist is a journalist, and figure out how to protect the activity rather than a defined group of people. Properly understood, journalism has never been simply a trade or a profession. In a democracy like ours, it’s a basic right.”

If you’r interested in the subject its worthy of a read.