] CNN war correspondent was told to shut down his popular
] site, touching off an ongoing debate on blogging as a
] legitimate form of journalism.
]
]
] Susan Mernit
]
] posted: 2003-04-03
]
]
] Are Weblogs one more tool in the arsenal used by online
] journalists to report the news? Or does a blog%u2019s
] typically individualistic voice and unfiltered attitude
] place it outside the journalist%u2019s palette? These
] rhetorical questions have exploded into a raging debate
] among online journalism watchers following CNN%u2019s
] decision to force war correspondent Kevin Sites to stop
] posting items to the popular blog he created while on
] assignment in northern Iraq.
]
] To blog or not to blog? The controversy has helped blogs
] jump up on the public%u2019s radar screen, but it has
] also divided the working press into separate and distinct
] camps.
]
] Some big media companies -- notably MSNBC, Fox News,
] Knight-Ridder and Advance Publications -- believe that
] blogs are a new and exciting form of journalism. These
] companies are actively bringing new blogs by reporters
] and columnists onto their Web sites.
]
] %u201CWeblogs are journalism,%u201D says Joan Connell,
] executive producer for Opinions and Communities at
] MSNBC.com. %u201CThey can be used to great effect in
] reporting an unfolding story and keeping readers
] informed.%u201D

] Are Weblogs one more tool in the arsenal used by online
] journalists to report the news? Or does a blog%u2019s
] typically individualistic voice and unfiltered attitude
] place it outside the journalist's palette? These
] rhetorical questions have exploded into a raging debate
] among online journalism watchers following CNN's
] decision to force war correspondent Kevin Sites to stop
] posting items to the popular blog he created while on
] assignment in northern Iraq.

] Some big media companies -- notably MSNBC, Fox News,
] Knight-Ridder and Advance Publications -- believe that
] blogs are a new and exciting form of journalism. These
] companies are actively bringing new blogs by reporters
] and columnists onto their Web sites.
]
] "Weblogs are journalism," says Joan Connell,
] executive producer for Opinions and Communities at
] MSNBC.com. "They can be used to great effect in
] reporting an unfolding story and keeping readers
] informed."
]
] Some of them are strongly against it. At CNN.com,
] for example, a spokesperson says that its news
] executives do not believe in blogs. “CNN.com prefers
] to take a more structured approach to presenting
] the news,” the spokesperson said. “We do not blog.
] CNN.com will continue to provide photo galleries,
] video clips, breaking stories and interactive
] modules as ways to involve readers in learning about
] the war.”