(iverson's) currentbuzz: Journalism class finds 45% of undergrads read blogs

"The questionnaire basically [asked], where do you get your news from how often do you use blogs, how often do you blog yourself and varying degrees on that," Courtney said.

Source: media.www.nyunews.com

NYU study shows that students are able to discriminate between objective writing and editorial writing is one interpretation of this study. The writer notes that many people expect the young and hip to be getting news from blogs. I am pleased to note that this indicates that the young and hip understand that a blog is likely to be more like analysis or editorial writing, and not news per se.

I'm a media blogger myself, but how many blogs can I read and still be able to look for timely news about tech and the news business, answer email, go and teach, etc. Blogs are a bit like poems. There are far more people writing poems than ever read them. Yet the form persists and even flourishes at times.

For news, I rely on a variety of RSS feeds and e-lerts. I go to blogs for backgrounding for one thing. It is great to troll blogs for new views of the same old topic, or for "heads up" on new products or services.

The blog communities I visit are like front porches (thanks to Jack Vinson for the front porch analogy.) Actually, I'd call it the front stoop. You drop by when you see a neighbor hanging out on their stoop. You chat, you move on. You feel connected to your neighbor even if you don't have time to stop and chat everyday.

Conclusion: it is good that NYU college students know that blogs might be an okay read, but you shouldn't use them as your primary news source. Also--don't you think that editorials as most political blogs are, are for older folks? I love them now, but when I was in my 20's I had other things to do than read editorials....