online journalists get into the money biz

As newspapers struggle to find a niche in a blitz of media that is mostly online these days, journalists too are looking to the Internet for new outlets. TechWeb.com reported yesterday that true journalists are starting up their own blogs online, and making money from them. An article on TechWeb about these money issues said that Judith Miller, the former New York Times reporter who was caught in the middle of the Valerie Plame scandal, has used her own website to tell her side of the story, and plans to continue to report through her own blog. The article didn't say if she is currently making money through this venture, but it was certainly implied that she would figure something out soon.

The article says that journalists, specifically ones looking for work, are using blogs to get to bigger news outlets in order to get some compensation for their work. Techweb said that Chris Allbritton, a reporter who worked for AP and New York Daily News, was able to raise $15,000 from readers to go to report from Iraq. This got the attention of Time, among other big news outlets, to pay him for some of his work. And of course there is always Kevin Sites, on Yahoo.

If more online journalists/bloggers start getting paid by the big media outlets, the issue of credibility may not be an issue for much longer. This could be a very good thing - I know how annoying it is to read a blog, take it seriously, and then find out that it just wasn't credible at all. Maybe now companies like Time will make the call for us. Not sure if that's good or bad....?