Only 5% Of Bloggers Are Journalists

ObsessiveMathsFreak writes "A recent study has concluded that only 5% of bloggers have news as their primary topic. The study was conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, and found that 37 percent of the surveyed blogs were reporting on their personal life, 11 percent on political matters, 7 percent on entertainment, and 6 percent on sports. There's also plenty of extra data in the report itself. From the article: 'About 34 percent see their blogging as a form of journalism; 65 percent disagreed. Just over a third of the bloggers said they often conduct journalistically appropriate tasks such as verifying facts and linking to source material.'"

Comments

Only?

[linvir]

Only? Since when was it expected that any bloggers were journalists? The only blog I know of that even comes close to journalism is Slashdot, and we all know how that turned out...

Personally, I've always just seen it as a way to share my random shit with the rest of the world. And judging by all the other blogs I've ever read, I'm not alone in that.

These figures are absolutely not a surprise.

Re:Only?

[joe 155]

I would be amazed if it was as high as 5% too, although when I looked at TFA if seemed to be saying that it was infact 5% of people who have "the news" (whatever that is) as their primary topic. I have a blog which is exclusively about current affairs, does that make me a journalist?... I also have a blog which is about linux and pre-1662 hammared silver coins... does that make me a nerd?

Type Mismatch

[fuzheado]

Slashdot headline - "Only 5% Of Bloggers Are Journalists"

Slashdot summary - "About 34 percent see their blogging as a form of journalism"

Er, get it right.

The article said "only 5% of bloggers have news as their primary topic."

News is a form of journalism, but not all journalism is news.