I think that the reason why so many bloggers – myself included – are miffed at comments by Luis Teodoro toward blogging is that Mr. Teodoro, with all due respect to the man, is imposing a “journalistic standard” in blogging.  Or as he calls it, journalists “setting examples.”

Yet what exactly is a “journalist?”  Take me for example: I have been writing in the campus papers since I was in Grade III, but I am not trained to be a journalist unlike a Journalism major.  Does this make me any more – or any less – a “journalist?”  Does this make me a 13-year “journalism veteran?”  I don’t think so.  What is the difference between a “journalist” working in a well-respected national broadsheet, and a “journalist” working in a five-peso sex-and-violence tabloid?  If a blogger gets shot or arrested in the spirit of the free expression and publication of opinions, does he/she become a “victim of media violence?”

Don’t get me wrong: I welcome the presence of journalists in the blogosphere.  Yet with that welcome, I think, comes the rather emotional misgiving that many, if not most, bloggers share as far as The Mainstream Media is concerned: we bloggers are not – suffice to say, cannot – be journalists.  We are looked down upon by an elitist, exclusivist, corporatist Mainstream Media who lumps us all up as potential Brian Gorell’s, not potential Teodoro Valencia’s.

In a way, the opposite holds true: I think (in all faith) that journalists welcome the presence of bloggers among their ranks.  Yet with that welcome, I think, comes the rather professional misgiving that many, if not most, journalists share as far as New Media is concerned: bloggers pose a legitimate threat not only to circulation, but to the very existence of the newspaper and print media.  Bloggers take away readerships, subscriptions, and even jobs.

Any media practitioner would be very aware of Marshall McLuhan’s famous quote: the medium is the message.  With all due respect to Mr. Teodoro, the least of his concerns should be the “ethical practice” of blogging.  There is no formal organization of bloggers in the Philippines that makes it an imperative for bloggers to subscribe to a “Code of Ethics.”

Because the medium is the message, I think Mr. Teodoro should not at all be concerned at “irresponsible” messages thrown about by “irresponsible” bloggers (myself included).  It is the medium, not the content, that has a social effect; for that matter, THE social effect.  What Mr. Teodoro (I hope inadvertently) did was to highlight that schism that exists between bloggers and journalists, that the only way for us bloggers to be “taken seriously” is for us to emulate Mainstream Media, to be “just like them.”

Yet in effect, as Mr. Teodoro blindly gropes on what blogging is all about, he invites journalists to engage in blogging to “set examples.”  A slip of the tongue, or did Mr. Teodoro just concede to bloggers setting examples FOR the journalists to follow?

Hmmm… interesting.

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