![\"PressHat3_2\"](\"http:\/\/dev.bevologyinc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/presshat3_2.png\")
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One of the subjects that comes up frequently in discussions about today\u2019s blogs is, \u201cAre bloggers journalists?\u201d\u00a0 Clay Shirky<\/a>, author of \u201cHere Comes Everybody<\/a>,\u201d explains it through some insightful observations which I\u2019m paraphrasing here (really, you gotta read this book!)<\/p>\n A profession exists to solve a hard problem, one that requires some sort of specialization.\u00a0 Professions exist because there is a scarce resource that requires ongoing management.\u00a0 The scarcity of the resource itself creates the need for a professional class.\u00a0 \u201cThe old dictum that freedom of the press exists only for those who own a press points to the significance of the change.\u00a0 To speak online is to publish, and to publish online is to connect with others. With the arrival of globally accessible publishing, freedom of speech is now freedom of the press, and freedom of the press is freedom of assembly.\u201d\u00a0 And that <\/em>explains why the Chinese government is so paranoid about Google.<\/p>\n For journalists, the resource (access to the means of distributing information, news, opinion) is no longer scarce, so we\u2019re seeing the \u201cmass amateurization\u201d of the profession and a shift in the timing of when content gets edited. \u00a0To make matters worse, when the resource was limited, an editor\u2019s content editing role was necessary to determine \u201cWhy publish this?\u201d \u00a0Now, the question isn\u2019t why, it has become \u201cWhy not?\u201d \u00a0So where scarcity of the means of distribution previously meant journalism\u2019s function was to filter information before<\/em> publication, it now means content editing and filtering comes after<\/em> publication (think Search, Google Alerts, RSS feeds).<\/p>\n Another way Professor Shirky phrases it is, \u201cIf everyone can do something, it is no longer rare enough to pay for, even if it is vital.\u201d \u00a0And that\u2019s the conundrum faced by journalism\u2026and many other professions that were created from the pre-internet world.<\/p>\n