Recently, I attended a small scheduled event held by the Journalism department. The University of Memphis invited Thaddeus Matthews, a local radio personality and a blogger, to the campus to speak on the topic: "Is Blogging Journalism?"
I found this interesting because I originally thought blogging to be just the web version of a diary. Even with all that I have to blog for my English class, I didn't take much stock in it because it is not something I do on a daily basis (even though I am supposed to for a grade). Don't get me wrong, I love to write. I just don't have the internet or a computer attached to my hip like most people do. I know I need the computer and internet; I just wish we didn't need them so badly. Anyway, I'm getting away from the topic at hand.
Matthews recently posted official police documents in the murder case of soon-to-retire officer Vidulich on his blogsite. This angered Memphis City Police Chief Larry Godwin and Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons, who sent two investigators ("Goons" as Matthews puts it) to the studio where Matthews puts on his radio talk show. Matthews refuses to reveal his sources from the police department that "leaked" the documents to him and claims that he is protected by Tennessee Shield Laws for journalism. If a case is brought against Matthews and he is found to not be covered by the journalist protection measure, he is prepared to go to jail to protect his sources.
So, the question(s) on the table: Does Matthews have the right to publish those documents on his blogsite? Are Bloggers Journalists? Should they have the same rights afforded to reporters for newspapers, magazines and TV news programs? Would you go to jail to protect your sources if you were a journalist?
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That’s interesting to think about - the whole blogging thing, and even the internet in general, is still so new that we haven’t come close to figuring out how things like that should be handled. I really don’t know how to answer the question about if bloggers should have the same rights as journalists.. I mean, anyone can start a blog, but I guess that anyone can call themselves a journalist, too.
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