Much has been made of the loosening of journalistic standards from the blogosphere – but blogs are more op-ed columns than they are news reports. They are reactions to news, not a factual account of events. Even if what they are reacting to is false, they still serve a purpose of communicating an idea or philosophy.
As journalists, it’s our duty to report the truth. When writing the story we can’t worry what the outcome of that truth is, only that it is reported accurately. However, when publishing a newspaper, editorial choices must be made with regard to space. So, what stays and what goes? The public has a right to know, but the decision has to be made with regard to what they need to know that day.
That’s one of the prime advantages to online newspapers – they aren’t restricted by space issues. They can report the entirety of the story – all of the stories. For all of the fear about the death of the traditional newspaper, what we’re really seeing is the rebirth of the paper as watchdog. No longer are there limits on what is reported. So long as there are organizations that strive to retain a core set of values with regard to how they report the story, then we are really standing at the dawn of a new age, not the end of one.
BuzzGrub - The Blog 