WebProNews

Jeff Jarvis makes a strong argument in the Philadelphia Inquirer today that news, like marketing, is now a conversation ...

... and that blogging/citizen journalism remains very relevant after the election.

Obviously, I agree.

"But bloggers will not replace big media. It's a symbiotic relationship. Bloggers will dog news media and shame them into covering stories. They will demand transparency from journalists. And they will speed up the news (after the election, blogs quickly spread, and then just as swiftly started debating and debunking, reports of voting irregularities). But bloggers also feed on the news that journalists gather. As Tom Curley, president of the Associated Press, said to the Online News Association this month: "The expanding blogosphere is indeed huge, but the bloggers need a baseline of facts and professional analysis on which to base their work... . Imagine Drudge without somebody to link to, or wonkette without somebody to poke fun at.""

Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.