In Too Much Media v. Hale; the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that bloggers are not protected by or entitled to the same shield laws that protect real journalists. The decision may be a deadly blow to “citizen journalists” but it’s a major victory in protected the jobs and dignity of professional journalists.
Bloggers have become a popular source of news because in theory professional journalism is corrupted by the bias of the “liberal media” and can not be trusted. Bloggers don’t work for anyone and are free from the bias of the media bosses.
In reality, bloggers are not a credible source of information. Professionals understand the concepts of journalism and have spent years studying the career along with a second major to enhance their credibility. A blogger thinks they are a journalist just because they wrote a “news story” on a website. Bloggers also lack any real understand how journalism functions.
For example many bloggers or readers that will disagree with me will pan this written work as a “bad news article.” But this is not a news article, its an opinion. A news article could only have facts and not the opinions of the writer. However an opinion needs some facts to backup its claim.
Unfortunately the nonsense of bloggers has flooded the internet more than factual information. Worse bloggers are whiling to publish their work for free causing the profession of writers to be devalued. As result the rise of bloggers has threatened the job security of professional journalists.
Looking into this case will also show the unprofessional manner of bloggers. Shellee Hale (defendant) was being sued by Too Much Media LLC after posting comments on an online forum regarding a security breach in TMM’s software. You read right, this trial started over an online forum, not a blog.
Yet Hale had the audacity to claim that journalist shield laws applied to her little comment on some forum. However her arrogance was a blessing to professionals and those who are studying to become journalists.
Hopefully this ruling will teach all those “citizen journalist” to stop bastardizing an important profession. At best this ruling will keep bloggers in their place while helping to stabilize the job security of professional journalists.
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