Blogging was part of the plot of a recent episode of The West Wing, apparently.
The perception of [blogs], as illustrated by the show, is that they are quick to respond but lack the ethics and rules that journalists play by.
Every blogger is his/her own editor. That makes it difficult to toe the line of ethics, as I’ve touched on before. It’s just too easy to write whatever you’re thinking, and hit the “publish” button and share those unedited thoughts with the world. I’m so accustomed to this ease that I tend to have trouble writing a journal entry when Blogger is down and I can’t use its post form. It’s nice, but it’s also dangerous, and I think many of us, especially those of us who are 1) newer to the scene and 2) unpublished, are still adjusting.