Using a systems framework from the sociology of occupations, this article maps the
journalism-blogging relationship, revealing areas of conflict between the two,
vulnerabilities, and predictors of vulnerability. The systems framework suggests
occupations exist within a network of other occupations and that they encroach into
each other’s jurisdictional areas. A variety of factors shape these fluid
processes. Factors that are external to the occupation include organizational
division of labor, revenue needs, and relationships with other institutions.
Internal factors include the degree to which journalists control the definition of
problems and inference to solutions, and the success with which they solve problems.
Difficulties posed by external and internal factors have led journalism to neglect
some types of news information, which in turn have been poached by bloggers. These
include partisan expression, ‘old stories’, stories driven by
non-elite sources, and highly specialized content. A model for future study is
constructed from these observations.
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