Reporter the Cat, what a wonderful wonderful cat!

Macintosh: So great, even your cat wants one. by rainspoo, on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND

Jeff Cutler writes: The one in which I turn blue trying to explain why I feel bloggers are not automatically journalists.. He says:

If it were up to me, I would introduce legislation that would require all journalists to be licensed. And a requirement of that licensing process would include at least two years of collegiate study and at least one year of full-time work as a reporter. Further, I would ask that the law require all prospective journalists to provide letters of reference from no fewer than three editors who would vouch for said reporter’s judgment and skill.

...If my cat wanders across my keyboard and creates a blog entry by pure happenstance, is she a journalist?

I responded:

Hi Jeff,

I have a song in my head now, sung to the tune of "Felix the Cat," "Reporter the Cat, what a wonderful wonderful cat!"

Ha!

You write,

"If you don’t present a balanced report of events from which an audience can make an informed opinion, you’ve done a poor job of reporting."

Sorry Jeff. This is wrong.

You can present a biased report from an event and do a good job of reporting.

All reporting is biased.

When I go out to an event, turn my camera on, and share the results online, that's reporting.

When 100's of people join me and do the same, that's reporting to.

It's eye witness acounts without the filter of media.

It's then up to the viewer to take in all those reports, or just a few selected reports from trusted sources, to make an opinion.

The idea that reports have to be balanced is flawed.

Rocketboom and MobLogic do not follow that rule and do a fine job of reporting.

http://rocketboom.com
http://moblogic.tv

--Steve

BTW, we need more CC licensed flickr photos of cats on keyboards.


Midge cat and computer by dougwoods, on Flickr CC BY


Got a cat?

Take a photo of it doing some reporting and post it to flickr.

Then leave a comemnt here.