Bloggers Should Be Treated as Journalist and Be Sanctioned for Indiscretions

We currently live in a society where people render inaccurate information just to manipulate others. If we’re going to take a glance on the contemporary world that we live in, it is noticeable that inappropriate speech acts such as manipulation, defamation, and negligence still exists. All of these malevolent act only portray what kind of mentality this society possesses. Moreover, it’s frustrating to know that irrelevant opinions, notions, and perspectives coming from a well-known individual are frequently heard than the voice of those with factual information. Due to this matter, it’s evident that most of us would definitely have a lower possibility of getting to know the truth. Hence, as an individual it is our right to be informed about the significant matter that govern our society for the betterment of the community. In this essay, I would like to stand on the given statement which says, “Bloggers should be treated as Journalist and be sanctioned for indiscretion”.

We all knew the fact that our beloved country, Philippines, belongs to one, out of many democratic countries to ever exist in the whole world. Therefore, every citizen is entitled in expressing his/her opinion in polite manner. Due to the power and freedom that are granted to us, we are able to speak and express ourselves even more freely. However, as we live in an advantageous society, manipulation, defamation and prejudice is never been inevitable. That’s the reason why everyone should know how to disseminate various information in order to properly acknowledge data. To further elaborate my statement, there are two kinds of people who renders information to the public and these are the Journalists and Bloggers. Journalists are people who writes and prepare news that is then broadcasted on newspaper, radio, and television.

Being a journalist means having a degree in journalism or must take up BA Mass Communication or any course interrelated with it. A journalist learned not only to write a firm stand but also learned how to properly execute the strategic technique to reliably collect and verify the significant accumulated information for the purpose of clear, true and unbiased data. They also follow the Code of Ethics applicable for journalists. On the other hand, Bloggers are the people who produces content which usually contain opinion and commentary on a particular subject. From that point, we can now distinguish the difference between the two. Journalists is a much reliable source of information rather than the bloggers. It’s simply because Journalists holds a degree on journalism whereas most of the bloggers doesn’t have. On this matter, it’s evident that Journalists are much reliable and credible source as they renders fact-based information in the public. Besides, if you’re going to ask me if bloggers should be treated just as same as journalists, I would definitely say NO.

Journalists are way more different from Bloggers even in terms of relying information, legitimacy, and credibility. They should be classified as to where they were truly belong. In my own perspective, it’s quite unfair for the journalists to be equated with bloggers due to the fact that bloggers haven’t studied the principle of journalism nor has a degree in that particular field. Journalists own their right and reputation in giving information because they relentlessly made their way just to be included in that industry and be entitled as “Journalists”. I’m not stating that every blogger have bad intentions, but come to think of it, some bloggers take advantage of their position to mislead and manipulate people in knowing the truth by means of brainwashing and defaming other people’s reputation. Furthermore, some bloggers have questionable identities which means that they’re not reliable. I definitely agree on the statement I have red from the internet that says, “Bloggers should also be aware of the facts. But if bloggers are looser with facts, freer with opinions, and the goal of many other blogs is to attract attention in public through their powerful statements and opinions; therefore it would be a good recipe for libel”. However, if misleading facts, spreading lies, prejudices or biases occurs from bloggers and even in journalists, they should not be tolerated and must be sanctioned for their negligence and indiscretions. They should receive the appropriate punishment established by the law for these kind of act. Both bloggers and journalists should be accountable for the content that they produce. Furthermore, asserting lies in any matter should definitely not be a part of their practice.

To sum all of the statements I’ve mentioned above, we, as a democratic country should make good use of our freedom in speaking and expressing ourselves. We should use our voice to inspire and render nothing, but valuable and accurate information for the public. We must always keep in mind that Speaking comes with responsibility. If only we can do these even if it takes a long process, we could make drastic change in our community, our nation and even in our world.