In her article Blogs of War, Wall quotes Carey as stating “News is the media’s interpretation of events”, quotes Stephens as stating “news is about a subject of some public interest that is shared with some portion of the public” and MacDougal and Reid as saying news is “timely, it concerns the nearby, it involves the well know and the prominent” (Wall 2005 p.154).
Wall also notes that traditionally news reported to the general public was about primary institutions within society but since its commodifiation – news items have been subjected to an editorial process (Wall 2005 p.155) in order to boost sales figures. Therefore news does fit Stephens definition of being “about a subject of public interest” but could also be said to control the subjects the public are interested in by only reporting on certain news items.
Blogging adds another sector - as it allows people to comment on news stories, to add opinion, to critique reporting or to add more information. Therefore news as it stands today could be seen not only as “the medias interpretation of events” but also includes the public’s interpretation of the information presented.
One thing that can be said is that news is timely. Blogging and other forms of social media allow companies and and the general public alike to report news stories quickly and efficiently. While news today doesn't necessarily concern the nearby (as we are now a more global community thanks to the internet) it does usually involve the well known and prominent (be it a heiress of a hotel chain or a politician) so maybe MacDougal and Reid sum it up best.
Wall, M. 2005. Blogs of war: Weblogs as news. Journalism 6 (2): 153 - 172. http://jou.sagepub.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/content/6/2/153.full.pdf+html (accessed 8/11/11).
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