I realize that quite a few journalists have made the transition; whether as an extension of their job or full time, to the world of blogs. That said, I ran across a post late last night that made me wonder if journalists in general think that when they are using bloggers as sources that one blogger is the same as another. Or are we really just all the same in their eyes regardless of whether we specialize in technology, politics or any of the many other categories of the larger blogosphere.

Daryl Tay bumped up against this very question at a recent conference where he was buttonholed by two different journalists who proceeded to ask him questions that where totally out of his field of blogging interest

Two separate journalists talked to me, one in person at the IDC conference and one over the phone. The first simply came up to me, did not introduce the topic she was writing about, did not ask if I knew anything about the topic she was writing about, or if I would like to say anything about it and just leaped straight into asking me questions.

The second called me while I was having dinner, didn’t ask if it was a good time to talk, but at least identified how she got my number.

Firstly, isn’t this communication 101? You’re calling someone you want to get something out of. The very least you can do is be courteous.

Second, both these journalists clearly have no idea who I am, and what I blog about. I know because both their pieces were on topics with absolutely nothing to do with what I blog about. Why would I be a relevant person to get a comment from? I told the second journalist that I had no idea whatsoever about the content she was asking me about and I didn’t feel like I was the best person to comment. It’s like asking an engineer in to comment on the latest healthcare procedures.

To which Daryl asked the following questions

Did they bother to do their research? Or was it just easy access to a blogger - any blogger - that they could milk for a comment for tomorrow’s news? Are they presenting a proper quote with proper representation to the public that actually pays money for that paper?

Now I’ve never had to deal with this kind of problem but it does make me wonder if indeed we really are just all the same to the larger journalist profession. Is it really a case of they need a blogger quote for something so grab the first one they see and to hell with the fact that the blogger doesn’t blog about the topic the journalist is asking them about?

By the way Daryl is a fairly new blogger but he has a blog that is well worth reading and subscribing to - I know I have. You can find his blog here and I heartily recommend it.

Conversation Tags: bloggers, blogging, journalists, mainstream media