That means, often, lingering misperceptions of a place — eg ‘it’s not safe for Americans to go to Vietnam’ (circa 1995), or ‘you’ll get kidnapped in Colombia’ (circa 2005 to present) — are first broken by travel writers, not ‘regular’ journalists.

Why does a role have to be so strictly defined? Why is there a need for putting people in the blogger box, the journalism box, the writer box, or the box within a box …? I don’t get it.

Back when the internet, and then the web, opened up to the public in 1994 or so, I relished in the concept of finally being given the space to move about without being defined by someone else’s label. And ever since that day, people have been getting on the web and defining things, labeling things, expecting things. It drives me crazy.

The beauty of the internet, and the web, is that you can be what you want to be. You can define yourself. And if people get you, they follow you. I think that’s the only thing anyone needs to be concerned about.

First, I’m an editorial nitpicker. “Real” journalism as opposed to fake journalism? More accurately, the question might be rephrased as “Is travel blogging journalism?” And I think the answer is… it depends.

I don’t buy into the idea that you have to have an editorial staff to be called a journalist. That’s not the arbiter for me. What draws the distinction in my mind — YMMV, etc — is the type of work you’re producing.

If I’m just spinning a yarn, well, that’s not really “reporting”, it’s storytelling. If I’m doing the work to unravel the back story — getting the numbers, too, as you mention, then yeah, I think that’s journalism. Understand that I’m not saying one is superior to the other plus, I LOVE storytelling.

If you’re writing some kind of reporting and doing so on your blog then, yup, it’s journalism. If you’re just rabbiting on about your trip, not so much so. Guidebook writing? Not journalism, just a collection of facts and advice mostly. Reporting on travel trends and backing that up? Yeah, journalism.

I don’t care about the format. Blog, magazine, newspaper, whatever. There’s lots of stuff in ALL formats that isn’t journalism, it’s writing of another flavor.

Now whether it’s any GOOD, there’s another issue entirely.

But regardless of your background, some journalists have blogs that don’t have much research or interviews, and are more of a personal travelogue. That’s fine, but not really journalism. I think if you cover news, use some quotes, and do some interviews (and have at least some original research) you can consider yourself a journalist for the most part. But if you just write about your own adventures without any research, industry news, or interviews/quotes, it’s not journalism — it’s more of a personal travelogue.

Nothing wrong with either, and I think a blog can be both. But sometimes a blog is definitely not journalism — it’s more like a public diary.

I thought that really interesting points were also brought up by Jen Leo and Wendy Perrin on that panel, when they said that a big difference between blogging and journalism CAN be (but isn’t, necessarily) that there are teams of people fact-checking, grammar-checking/spell-checking and basically sanity-checking the information for the writer before the piece is published.

Remember Wendy even made the comment that it was a bit strange for her to click “publish” on her blog and know that she was connecting with her readers immediately vs. 3 months into the future, which in the travel industry is huge!

You’re really good about checking facts, etc but there certainly isn’t any “blogger patrol” out there that makes us do it ). I think bloggers build their own reader trust, one reader at a time, and bloggers who have a larger readership probably spend more time fact-checking and grammar-checking and just making sure the posts are interesting, flow and are easy to read. I think the bottom line is that if Conde’ Nast, the Sun Times and bloggers spend time making sure content is easy to read and accurate, readership will grow, whether on line or in print.

As a travel blogger, I’m not trying to create a guidebook. I’m trying to write well and share things from my point of view. I offer my opinions and my stories in the hopes that they will inspire and inform other parents who want to travel with their kids. I’m very focused on my audience. I check facts where I’m making assertions. I edit my own work (although I find this to be challenging and mistakes do slip through the cracks). At the end of the day I don’t call myself a journalist, but a writer. My blog reflects my craft, and as such I hold it to high standards of integrity and quality. I hope that my blog is fun to read and that it serves a complementary role to guidebooks, how-to sites, and traditional media outlets. I’d like to think that we can all coexist peacefully. So I guess I’m agreeing with the idea that distinguishing between the two types of content is a false dichotomy.

One thing I’m struggling with as a blogger is the need to wear all the hats. I’m not a photographer (and have never really wanted to be one) nor am I a videographer. My education and professional experience all have to do with the written word, and I think that shows on my blog. But again, because of the diverse number of outlets available, I hope that users can go other places to find high quality photos and video content. To me that’s the beauty of the Internet.