I considered it rather condescending when after years spent in schools to learn the art, standards, laws and ethics of Journalism, maybe under the aegis of Mass Communication, some of us still go the extra mile to take a professional course, chasing finesse, on top this JOURNALISM; you regard yourself A BLOGGER. Chai. A writer plus a Journalist would have been better than such a condescending and worth-sucking word.
Bro, even if you practise online, i.e. making use of social media platforms (like First Touch Info News, PIJALance Magazine, @FIJ, etc.) you're not a BLOGGER. YOU'RE RATHER AN ONLINE JOURNALIST, A MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST.
YOU'RE NOT A BLOGGER! I repeat. Blogger is derogating.
Honestly, I was a victim of this until I later received the sense to not derogate myself again.
A blogger is simply defined by OALD (10th Edition) as just a person who writes.
Let me ask you, is this what you do as a trained Journalist if you know you're one?
I am trained to gather, write, and report newsworthy events ethically with a special ability to know how to edit and broadcast effectively. Can a blogger do that?
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And yes, I don't just report events, I report events with accuracy, clarity, simplicity, brevity, etc. with all agreeing to the standard of ethics and law so that all my reports will be ethically, grammatically, and lawfully safe from errors. Can a blogger do that?
A blogger is in my view untrained. You're trained, you're a Journalist.
A blogger writes click bait headlines,
You write Banner Headline,
You write Kicker,
You write Rider,
You write Flush Left and Right, and not because you just want to lure the people only to be deceived. You write to Inform, Educate and Entertain.
If you're a print Journalist, you know page making, you know copy writing, you know copy fitting, you know dummy sheets, you know design, you know colour and type psychologies. You know a lot, bloggers don't.
What of broadcast journalists, you know the idea behind the sensitive diaphragm, you know how your message gets to the receivers, you know how the studio works, you know, you know... How can you just ridicule yourself like that? It is nauseating.
Bloggers break news as senseless as they can be, and seek the downfall of others with no genuine reasons, Bloggers don't know ethics, they commit the error of obscene, defamation, commit copyright, and many more. They do copy and paste, they are experts in plagiarism.
They act with no vision and with only goal in mind: to make money. They are money-driven.
Bloggers don't go out to gather news, they don't know interviews, they don't know the techniques, the modus operandi of news reporting, and they don't know the efficacy of 5 Ws and H.
Ask a blogger to write a common 5-paragraph news story, you'll see What in the last paragraphs, Why at the beginning and Where in the middle.
All these terms used they will still not know unless they google it.
The only truth about TRUE bloggers is, they are talented WRITERS. No doubts. And having an impeccable ability to write is one of the good traits of a Journalist, but never has it been the basis for judging a good Journalist.
Talk of Investigative Journalism, a blogger cannot investigate. A whole lot of things are embedded in being a Journalist.
I wouldn't know if it is a shortage of knowledge, a knowledge gap or myopic thinking.
The same thing goes to broadcast Journalists, after graduation, and just because they love Oratory, instead of calling themselves a Presenter, they will say they are an Emcee. Jesus! Emcee? That is also derogatory, condescending and unacceptable to use as a qualification of a true Broadcast Journalist.
Today, I am teaching you to resist. Resist that devil limiting you and take up your true profession.
I was once in your shoes but now I am free. long ago, anyway. Never add a blogger to your portfolio. Never.
And I may have been yes demeaning and sarcastic in my ways of teaching you, please sorry. Consider it as your Angel teaching you in hard way. If you cannot comment, or like it, don't bother. Read and pass then quickly run to your profile on Facebook and elsewhere, change it immediately to online Journalist or Journalist, and delete that idea from your mind.
Change your MINDSET. You're not a blogger ma and sir. Unless you choose to be.
I have many more to count but I think it is needless because with this you should have gotten the gist.
Tell a friend to tell another friend, it is not right to call yourself such a derogatory name when you're not
If it is hard for you to call yourself a Journalist because you cannot comprehend how to explain who you're since you only practise online.
Say you're an Online Journalist. Yes, it is defined as ethical Journalists who make use of various forms of social media platforms to disseminate information. We make use of Bloggers. We are not bloggers.
I am always sarcastic about whoever calls me a blogger and I hope you'll never fall in that shoes.
Are you a blogger? I bet not.
For me, I am an Ethical Journalist—an Investigative Journalist with source.
Credit| Oyedibu Enoch