Capturing The Reader

     Towards the end of chapter two in Paul Levinson's New New Media there is a section titled "The Need for Old Media Reporting in an age of New New Media". This section addresses the topic of how bloggers have become their own publishers and investigative reporting is on the verge of doom. The fact of the matter is, yes, bloggers can and are always self publishing via the internet and yes, this is putting actual newspapers out of business, but no it will never fully steal the audience of these newspapers. Just because you can publish something doesn't mean anybody is going to read it. Newspaper writers are newspaper writers for a reason, because they are good at what they do. Newspapers hire people with degrees and writing experience who now how to captivate readers, they have a selective style, and they get their information from other accredited sources that work for them in the field. 

     There are no criteria for bloggers other that owning a computer with access to the internet. Anyone can write a blog, therefore down playing its accomplishment. Not only does blogging allow for any writer to publish, no matter how bad the post may be, but it also lends itself to little or no rules. Newspapers follow a certain code of conduct when they publish and a certain consistency of release. Bloggers can publish as frequently as they want and write anything they want, no matter how offensive or lackluster it is. Bloggers do have an infinite amount of publishing power that people with only a Xerox machine could never achieve, but as far as creditability they are matched.