Blog #4

This particular passage is marked by the universality of journalism in the Internet age. These days, anyone with an inquisitive mind and an intrepid spirit can be a journalist, as it requires no official affiliation with a newspaper. These bloggers who double as journalists pose the same threat to traditional media that USA Today once posed to traditional local daily newspapers that Shirky writes about in “Here Comes Everybody.” While USA Today didn’t end up posing much of a threat to traditional media, which survives today, the moment where it struck fear into the hearts of papers nationwide has been a prolonged one in traditional media. Newspapers and local news stations alike are threatened by bloggers who gather a following over time – but one thing I have noticed is that traditional media is actually adapting extremely well. It is commonplace for traditional media outlets to have reporters who are very active on Twitter and Facebook, updating frequently with stories several times a day. When independent bloggers do well, it isn’t uncommon at all for them to be signed by a newspaper to be one of their reporters or commentators. Newspapers may be out of print in 20 years, but they will live on as a legitimate source of news on the internet, if not on actual paper!