Are Typewriter Users Journalists?

I agree with Scott Rosenberg's assessment that to ask "Are bloggers journalists?" is like asking "Are telephone callers journalists?" or "Are typewriter users journalists?" or "Are mimeograph operators journalists?" or "Are writers journalists?" (As Rosenberg eloquently concludes, "Well, duh, sometimes! But sometimes not.")

Are Typewriter Users Journalists?

I agree with Scott Rosenberg's assessment that to ask "Are bloggers journalists?" is like asking "Are telephone callers journalists?" or "Are typewriter users journalists?" or "Are mimeograph operators journalists?" or "Are writers journalists?" (As Rosenberg eloquently concludes, "Well, duh, sometimes! But sometimes not.")

Rappers and Bloggers: Separated at Birth?

I enjoyed Josh Levin's piece on Rappers and Bloggers in Slate last week. Did anyone else read it? What did you think?

Some of his points are amusing (such as "both groups share a love of loose-fitting, pajama-style apparel" pajama-hadin anyone?), but I like what he writes about blogging as a form of sampling and/or collage:

Essentially, blogging is sampling plus a new riff. Political bloggers take a story in the news, rip out a few chunks, and type out a few comments. Rap songs use the same recipe: Dig through a crate of records, slice out a high hat and a bass line, and lay a new vocal track on top. Of course, the molecular structure of dead-tree journalism and classic rock is filthy with other people's research and other people's chord progressions. But in newspaper writing and rock music, the end goal is the appearance of originality—to make the product look seamless by hiding your many small thefts. For rappers and bloggers, each theft is worth celebrating, another loose item to slap onto the collage.