Are journalists changing their opinion of social media?

Fairfax’s embrace of all things digital media does not extend to bloggers.

While attempting to promote the recently launched The Age of Conversation book about the rise of social media and authored by more than 100 bloggers, a Fairfax journalist told a fellow contributor that they could not promote the work of bloggers because management saw them as competitors.

Are journalists and media organisations changing their opinions of bloggers and citizen reporters?

We’ve seen evening news bulletins and daily newspapers running stories on politicians invading citizen media sites like YouTube. I’ve heard leading political commentators like ABC Radio National’s Fran Kelly talk up social media as a political campaign tool of the future. Now, it would appear the editorial managers of a major Australian media group think giving a few bloggers a plug in one of their newspapers is bad for business.

Comments

[Drew McLellan]

Chris,

Isn't it interesting that we went from being "not credible" to competition? What happened to the happy middle ground?

Drew