Richard Laermer pointed me to an interesting piece comparing the relationship  between professional and amateur astronomers to that between journalists and bloggers.

You can read the whole thing here at TechDirt.

I think the comparison is apt to a point. In astronomy, the professionals – mainly the folks at the large research institutions and universities who have access to the expensive equipment – do most of the theoretical work while the amateurs – folks who have a love of astronomy but never pursued it as a career – fill in on the observational side. A perfect example happened only last month when amateurs observed two meteor hits on Jupiter.

Most professionals who are working on advanced research don’t have the luxury of being able to wander over to Jupiter for a quick look. Observation time on the larger telescopes is reserved months, if not years in advance and there just aren’t enough eyes at that level to be watching the whole sky. But amateurs, many of whom have fairly sophisticated equipment (at least when compared to that of only a few decades ago) and the time and inclination to pursue a whim now and then, can turn their eyes wherever the professionals can’t.

This relationship has been tremendously beneficial to professionals and amateurs alike.

In the media world, on the other hand, aggressive bloggers have been stepping on the toes of the main stream media, most obviously in politics and entertainment but also in local coverage where the larger media outlets cannot spare the resources. And in regions of the world where it is just too difficult or dangerous to send a journalist, there are countless bloggers, videobloggers and twitter-erers to fill in the gaps.

The relationship has grown hostile, with journalists lashing out at the ranks of the amateur press corps, calling them conflicted and not held to professional standards.

I think though that this is where the comparison ends. In journalism, the huge shifts in how media is consumed and distributed have put tremendous pressure on the traditional media outlets. This pressure is being passed down to the newsroom where journalists are finding it harder and harder to earn a comfortable living in an ever shrinking media market. It makes perfect sense for the reporter at the city desk to feel threatened by the local blogger with a camera and a sense of purpose because that blogger means that the journalist can be quickly out of a job.

Astronomy, on the other hand, is funded primarily by research grants. And with the huge costs for the most advanced tools of the trade, only governments and extremely well-financed  institutions are playing in the game at this point. So there’s no reason for the professional working with the Hubble Space Telescope to fear the amateur with a 10 inch SCT in her backyard. The professional will get the grants and the amateur will enjoy the fruits of the professional’s research and may even have an opportunity to make important discoveries on her own that the professionals are precluded from.

What would make for a comparable situation in the media world would be to find that common ground and common interest that supports both sides. Perhaps when more journalists, newly freed from the newsroom and the print world, are covering their old beats for online start-ups, the reconciliation will begin.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Amateur Astronomers Continue to Amaze [Astronomy] (gizmodo.com)
• The significance of the recent Jupiter impact (beliefnet.com)
• Media Find Recruiting Pool in Liberal Blogosphere (newsbusters.org)