Mainstream Media Feeling Threatened by Bloggers at CES

Our good buddy Jeremiah Owyang wrote about a reported incident in the press room at CES. Obviously, this is coming from a third-hand source, so keep that in mind when making judgments about the relative accuracy of the account. As Jeremiah tells it:

In one case, I heard that in the CES press room a discussion occurred where one blogger told another that they prefer to read blogs to get news, rather than traditional press.

A member of the traditional press got really upset, raised his voice, causing much of the table to look over, and he left in a furious stomp. It was suggested that he felt his job was threatened.

I understand why the mainstream media feels threatened by this new medium, but I don’t think their worries are credible in the long term. The blogosphere is a really nice compliment to traditional media, but it will never replace it.

As Shel Israel told me, CNN can embed an intrepid reporter with a group of soldiers in a combat zone. Political bloggers can be armchair warriors, but they can’t report directly what’s happening on the front lines. Yes, soldiers blogging gives us a perspective on the war. But soldiers are doing their job soldiering. That doesn’t leave them a lot of time to investigate and report the way a traditional journalist can.

I think in time, most reporters worth their salt will start their own blogs either for personal use, or to flesh out information about their recent work. Newspaper editors are always cutting fascinating pieces out of articles for space reasons or because the piece of the story in question is interesting but tangential. Those are the kinds of tidbits that journalist-bloggers would be uniquely poised to provide. It’s just another way that blogging adds value to the mainstream press without compromising it.