Adam Penenberg writes an interesting article on Wired about how some news reporters who happen to operate their own personal blogs are being forced to shut down their blogs.

For all the press that bloggers have received for revolutionizing journalism by bringing Gutenberg's printing press to the digital masses, when push comes to shove, journalists who operate personal weblogs face an inherent conflict of interest. In the end, it's the blogs that usually get short shrift.

I suppose its this way because blogs haven't typically earned much money for most bloggers. Instead, blogs are mainly a stepping stone towards greener pastures. If that's the reality, then perhaps blogs have their place.

But I started out as a website publisher and evolved into an affiliate marketer. My role as a blogger only happened recently. One of my blogs uses affiliate links at a moderate level, and has made money doing it. Though for the most part, AdSense seems to be best means to monetize blog content.

But many bloggers, particularly those discussed in Penenberg's article are not website publishers or even affiliate marketers. They're simply reporters and journalists looking for way up the ladder. They're not savvy on building traffic, and converting traffic into money.

Time will change all of this. Technology such as RSS and revenue programs like AdSense will evolve to make blogging more profitable. Conceivably, we could see a time when the mainstream print media outlets will feel the competition from high-profile bloggers.

Labels: Blogging Ethics, Journalism