After our 'fun' lunch it was back to work with the breakout sessions. As a PR/Hyperlocal blogger and a consultant to traditional media this session really interested me. Are bloggers journalists?

Yes the question has been asked and debated hundreds of times on panels around the world, but my interest is seeing the response/questions from the audience. Discussing the subject today was a great panel including:

David Armon, COO, PR Newswire
Julia Hood, Editor-in-Chief, PRWeek
Henry Copeland, CEO, Blogads.com
Peter Himler, Flatiron Communications

David served as moderator of the panel and opened with some brief intros from the panelists. During Henry's intro he said, "Outside is the new inside." and that he enjoys coming 'inside' to tell that story.

David surveyed the audience to get a perspective on who was in the room. It was a great mix in the room of agencies, corporations, bloggers, journalists and academia.

Q. Are bloggers journalists?

Julia: If she had to do it all over again she might not have gone back to journalism school, she'd be a blogger. She thinks the impetus for bloggers and journalists is to have a voice. Journalists will say they are different because they are objective and have editor...all of those things are debatable. Thomas Paine is the first blogger, Julia though she had that idea first, but no, plenty of other people have made that connection. If the impetus is the same than perhaps the responsibilities are the same.

Peter: I feel they are journalists, but of the citizen variety. The lines of traditional media are blurring, entertainment is mixing with hard news, etc. Media needs to take a look and take stock of where they are at. He feels that blogs are subjective to some degree. There is of course an echo chamber, but it works both ways. Many times it's a AP or Reuters story that is discussed in blogs, but what we're seeing now is bloggers post a story idea and it's picked up by the traditional media.

Henry: I'll be the outsider. He doesn't think it's an issue until substantive words get used. Some of the words used are originator and legitimacy. When we apply those words then we have a debate. The people reading blogs feel the information they're getting out of blogs is valuable. Sure there is spin, but it's obvious and the people reading them understand this.

David talked about how PRNewswire selects bloggers to be included in their programs. The blog must have original content, it must be influential (more than 1000 unique links via Technorati), it must fit the taxonomy of their business and the blog must not be obscene.

Peter: Do bloggers get credentials? What we're seeing now with bloggers, is that client still want to manage messages. The holy grail of the blogosphere is that we can select bloggers that target a specific topic or audience. However a Z-list blogger can still break news, but they may only have limited space at a particular event. If you're managing a news event, you don't have to let everybody in, this doesn't just apply to bloggers, this also applies to journalists.

Henry: Some of the prolific bloggers are just being bombarded by PR flacks. Things are changing, 18 months ago many bloggers would feel flattered if somebody pitched them, now they're being overwhelmed.

Julia: Welcome to the world of being a journalist. You get what you ask for.

Peter: You don't pitch a blog, you build a conversation with a blog.

Q: Julia, you said earlier that bloggers and journalists have the same responsibility, can you elaborate on what those are?

Julia: I don't think they should have the same responsibilities, it's just a responsibility.

(getting behind.....the conversation is too good....)