By Kim Voynar Voynar@moviecitynews.com
The Journo vs Blogger Battle Infects Even Kiddie TV
Weird.
So I’m sitting here getting some editing done while I wait for my kids’ dad to pick them up for their Thanksgiving time with him, and the boys are watching some Yu-Gi-Oh TV show. I wasn’t really paying attention to the show until I heard two of the characters arguing, and one of them says to the other in a snooty tone that she is a “real” journalist because she writes for a print paper, while her rival is “only” a blogger.
Huh.
Seems like the “real journalist” vs blogger battle has filtered down even to kiddie TV, but what most interested me about this is how out of date it sounded to have these characters talking about blogs and page views and print vs online, and the poor downtrodden blogger character all angsty over how she’s “just” a blogger and how if she can just cover this big Yu-Gi-Oh tournament instead of covering street battles, maybe she can get a story on the FRONT PAGE of the print paper and then she’ll know she’s really made it.
Thing is, this is the newest incarnation of the Yu-Gi-Oh series, not one of the older ones showing on repeat. And it seems to me the writers, with this print vs online side story, are behind the times when it comes to both how people get their news, and the perceived value and validity of print vs online outlets. The gap is narrowing, and while there are a handful of print outlets that still carry a certain degree of prestige, for the most part, many of my colleagues who write for newspapers are now also (or even primarily) writing or blogging for the online editions.
Times change. 25 years ago, when I was a journalism major, I never could have imagined the way things are now. I wonder what it will look like 25 years hence, when I’m 67 and really yelling at the kids to get off my damn lawn.