Legal matters

This week’s readings were focused around the legalities behind blogging and citizen journalism. I’m very glad that Dispatches from Blogistan covered this topic. I thought that it was only logical for Stefanac to add a chapter in her book about copyright, libel and the like. It seemed the responsible thing for her to do since her book is all about starting your own blog, tips on how to make it successful and so forth. She couldn’t very well just set her readers out into the world without at least an inkling of what types of repercussions may be in store for them based on what they might write. It’s like teaching your kid how to use safety scissors, then setting them loose into the world with a pair of heavy duty shears without telling them they shouldn’t run with them. It’s plain bad parenting.

The time of reckoning has come: Deal with it!

So this week’s reading was in Dispatches from Blogistan and was entitled “Blogs as Soapboxes.” As I read it, I wasn’t really surprised to find out that the majority of bloggers are still “writing about ‘my life.’” At least, as of July of 2006. There’s this saying you hear a lot in the writing industry, write what you know. It seems pretty obvious, but you’d be surprised how many writers (novelists, journalists, bloggers, etc.) struggle and deal with the constant blocks because they just don’t know what they’re writing about, or they just don’t care. I’m not going to lie–I’ve been there many times. So yeah, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that most bloggers are going to write about themselves because well, it’s what they know.

Well…that was uplifting…

Okay, to be honest, I didn’t really like this week’s readings. They were depressing for me to read. The topic was citizen journalism and how it’s becoming more and more popular and how traditional journalism is steadily declining. Now, that will really make somebody who’s going to school for a degree in journalism feel even more reassured about the job market. Good lord, I’m weeks away from graduating and am anxious enough about entering the real world. This week’s readings in both Dispatches from Blogistan and We the Media discussed how this seems to be the direction people are going in to get their news. If that’s true, then what have I been going to school for these past four years?