Article on Investigative Bloggers from 2007

"Investigative Bloggers -- Playing on the Same Field by the Same Rules

by Ahmed Shihab-Eldin on January 24, 2007 - 4:29am.

You want the democratization of the media?

Well here it is. As the Lewis “Scooter” Libby trial begins, the members of the mainstream media members who usually battle for the 100 seats allotted for the press in federal court trials now only have 98. Old school media outlets are going to have to give up two of their seats for the new school, aka—bloggers..

The Media Blogger’s Association will be rotating members in two seats, blurring the already hazy line between bloggers and journalists. So where did the line go?

Sheldon Snook, administrative assistant to Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan, said in a recent Washington Post article that: “Bloggers can bring a depth of reporting that some traditional media organizations aren’t able to achieve because of space and time limitations.”

On the topic of depth, just how deep can bloggers get? And what does the term buzzing around the blogosphere, “investigative blogger” even mean? Bloggers have proved themselves at exposing media foul-ups. But there is a whole world of investigating to do.

Brad Friedman is a self-proclaimed ‘investigative blogger’ who broke the story of the “White House Web site Scrubbing.” Although today he hates to make the distinction of “investigative blogger,” he admits that not being held to the same editorial process does create a schism.
“Actually, I may have been the one who coined the phrase, ‘investigative blogger,’ I’m not sure.”
The reason he used that phrase at first was out of respect for journalists and because he felt there was a difference between what he did and what they did, “until I spent the next couple of years taking such a close look at what journalists really were doing.” That’s when he realized he is as much of an “investigative journalist” as they are.

For that same reason Chris Nolan, from Spot-On said during the National Conference on Media Reform, referring to the ‘victory’ for bloggers in covering the Scooter Libby trial:

“I would caution anyone who is starting a blog or a Web site to not to look to the government to approve your ability to write online.

[Spot-on] was offered media blogger credentials, but if we wanted to cover the trial I would have told our writer to go down to the courthouse and get credentialed as a spot-on reporter or writer….

You are opening the door to telling people when you can speak, how you can speak and what you can speak to and I think it’s an extremely dangerous path.”

And why should bloggers look to the media to feel legitimized?

They can be reprimanded like real journalist. Take the case of Josh Wolf—who has been incarcerated for more than 150 days. For Friedman, it goes to show that there really is no difference between an investigative blogger and investigative journalist.

“When you have got bloggers who are essentially facing the same perils as reporters, it certainly blurs the line,” he said.

So what is an “investigative blogger”?

It’s a state of mind – taking the art of the blog to the next level.

“I see a lot of progressive bloggers out there basically doing the same thing that the White House press corps is, basically responding to whatever it is Tony Snow has to say on any given night, instead of going out there, digging in and finding their own stories.”

It’s the digging that makes an investigation – not the organization that publishes the findings.
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Ahmed Shihab-Eldin was born in California and grew up in Egypt and Austria. He received his Bachelor of Science in Communication from Boston University and is currently completing his Master of Science in Journalism at Columbia. He has worked as a staff writer for The Daily Free Press. He speaks English and Arabic and enough German and French to get by."

Source of Post
http://newassignment.net/blog/ahmed_shihab_eld/jan2007/22/investigative_bl

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