Web journalism vs. blogging

Hi! I’m Adrienne, a work experience student from the University of Sheffield. Christine teaches us Web Journalism MA students about writing for the web, and she asked me to write a bit about what I’ve learned.

The first thing I’ve learned is that although a huge and growing number of people get their news primarily online, most I’ve spoken to don’t have a clear idea of what “web journalism” actually is. When I tell people what course I’m doing, I generally get a reaction along the lines of, “So, is that, like, blogging?”

So the second thing I’ve had to learn on this course is how to respond to that question gracefully. I used to say, “No, anybody with an opinion and an internet connection can blog. Why would I pay thousands of pounds to learn how?” True and succinct, but not the politest way to say it.

Then I started responding, “No, like journalism… only on a website.” This tended to be met with a blank stare. “Like the BBC news website or the [insert name of newspaper here] online.” Faint glimmer of understanding.

And then there was the rant. “No, blogging is mainly people’s opinions and anyone can write a blog. Web journalism is much more specialised. It’s like any kind of journalism in the newsgathering sense, but it’s written differently, specifically for websites. There are all kinds of things like search engine optimisation that you use when you’re writing for a real website. Plus web journalists are trained in media law, which most bloggers aren’t. A web journalist might also blog, but it’s not the same thing and they’re not interchangeable terms.”

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against blogs as a rule. Obviously I’m writing for one now. And there are many excellent blogs, some of them even journalistic. What irks me is the attitude of many people I’ve met, including some other journalists, that web writing is inferior to print or broadcast in some way.

It’s particularly troublesome as the market is headed more and more towards online content. But really, I’ll have the last laugh because of the specialised skills I’m learning. Like search engine optimisation, making sure relevant keywords are in appropriate places on the page so it ranks well in search engines. How to structure a story that engages the reader and makes them click through to other pages on the site. How to use photos and teaser text to the best advantage.

So now I smile and say, “No, not really. We build websites and then we write news stories to put on them using specific web techniques.”

What do you think? How do you describe web journalism?