But I’m not a lawyer, I just play one on the Internet.

I wouldn’t in a million years consider myself a journalist though.

Also
“a person who regularly gathers, prepares, collects, photographs, records, writes, edits, reports, or publishes news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public for a substantial portion of the person’s livelihood or for substantial financial gain and includes a supervisor, employer, parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of such covered person.”

USE A PERIOD!!!! lol

I think so-called “journalists” should have much stricter guidelines as to what they can report. Or maybe that’s just the old way, and the new way is that everyone is a journalist. If this is the case, then we definitely are seeing an increase in discussion, but a loss of strict/accurate reporting that’s based on facts.

Regardless, I do think most bloggers (the ones that aren’t affiliated with a major news organization) should be allowed to write what they want, without being subjected to as strict requirements for fact and source-checking as journalists for mainstream media. But if it’s clear they are purposely twisting the facts and harming an individual’s reputation, then they should be responsible for that.

I agree that it goes back to what others have said about the nature of the writing and purpose of the blog.

Of course, I, like the other commenters here, don’t think of myself as a journalist. I write a lot of garbage, and that’s also generally what I enjoy reading as well. In fact, I really don’t know why I even read this blog as I have no intention of ever attempting to make money with a blog. Hmm.

Oh, and I hope I win the random drawing. Just in case I do, I choose my linked phrase to be “banana hammock”. Think you could try to work that phrase in every other post or so?

“and includes a supervisor, employer, parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of such covered person”

I think some bloggers could be thought of as journalists, it really depends on the nature of the blog. Let’s say you are employed as a professional blogger to report on all the latest industry news for a high profile blog. I would consider that person a journalist. Lots of examples of these in the SEO world for example.

However, individual people who write personal blogs who just happen to also mention some industry news – no, I dont think those people are journalists.

I guess it boils down to how the blog is presented. Some blogs are positioned as news blogs – subscribe to this feed to get the latest news on the industry. Others are informational, entertaining, personal etc.