Traditional vs. New Journalism

I just finished reading the first five chapters of Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge's book Putting the Public Back in Public Relations. The subject matter pertaining to the fourth chapter really struck me as interesting. This chapter discussed how the traditional method of news-reporting in newspapers and magazines has been overshadowed by online social media.
One element that is becoming popular in the online social media scene is blogging. As this starts to rise, traditional media is decreasing. Blogs do have the upper hand on the traditional media because it typically transports faster. They do present accurate information that individuals can depend on. Information found on the web is more accelerated than any other outlet. This news is brought to people before they can even try and find it themselves. It is finding them instantly and hitting them from all directions.
The major difference between traditional journalism and blogging is that journalist adhere to a code of ethics while bloggers don’t. Bloggers aren’t held responsible for the information they post on their blog. Unless this changes, currently the guidelines for ethics are individually based and no one is in control of the blogosphere. Bloggers are now known as “citizen journalist” and I believe that it is crucial for them to comply with the same beliefs and values that journalist do in their writing. If they don’t, it is only going to hinder their credibility in the long run. Viewers won’t continue to read and rely on blogs full of inaccurate information. They will turn to other sources for their information.
One question to ponder is if the blogosphere will adhere to a code of ethics in the future, as journalists do. Only time will tell if online social media is going to replace traditional media and become the new journalism.