Online Journalist or Blogger: When a Professional Makes Strategic Choices

I read on “Il Post” an article telling the story of an American online journalist who, for about five years, managed a blog for Atlantic, an online newspaper from the States. Marc Ambinder, that’s the journalist’s name, has used the blog over the years to write about politics. So far, nothing unusual. There are many journalists who have a blog (sometimes more than one) myself included, who inform web users daily. Marc Ambinder no longer wants to be one of them, one of us. The decision, announced on the very blog that hosted his political editorial for years, has a retro flavor tinged with a “professional awareness.” Well, the journalist wants to go back to writing for print media; he wants to return to where many journalists (myself included) trained before arriving in the digital world. Marc Ambinder gives a reason for all this. He says he wants to go back to writing what the reader needs, not just what one wants to write.

Bloggers give a lot of space to their own identity while traditional journalism, which we usually refer to as “print journalism,” collects information more targeted at the reader and, above all, articles written for print are published only if considered valuable not only by the journalist but also by their superior. Blogs are lighter and often contain personal opinions, which traditional journalism says should be set aside: facts separated from opinions.

Marc Ambinder confides through his last blog post, which for five years collected his writings, that he needs an “rewrite this, it sucks” or “the piece is good” in order to continue on his professional journey in journalism, because this way he can grow as a reporter and a writer. A professional choice that opens an interesting debate, without a doubt, and raises a question for all of us who work in this world—one increasingly unloved by brazen people (people say everything about journalists, often with malice) but increasingly appreciated and desired by the young—about what is the best way to share news in the digital age.