BBC College of Journalism Blog - A vigorous and robust discussion about journalism from every perspective.

It is such an easy hit, one feels ashamed landing it.

Old friend, BBC face and former political editor Andrew Marr has dissed (yes, I know ... but I still find it useful) blogging, bloggers and citizen journalists.

"Inadequate, pimpled and single" ... "spewings and rantings of very drunk people late at night".

Pro-jos cheer. Blogvania is up in arms. How very dare he? Amour propre partout. 

Here's the problem. He's right. Spot on. About bloggers, cit journalists ... and about journos.

Take some of the key phrases and substitute 'the British press' and there's little many would quarrel with. 

"(The British press is) inadequate" and "nothing to do with journalism at all." 

True? Probably as true as it is of bloggers etc. 

"A lot of (the British press) seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed ... and ranting. They are very angry people." 

"Most of the (British press) is too angry and too abusive. Terrible things are said ... things ... they wouldn't dream of saying in person." 

True? As above. 

Thing is, many journalists, much of our journalism has forfeited the right to distinguish itself from things like gossip, rumour, fabrication that are/were the hallmarks of what we used to think of as non-journalism.

All of what Andrew Marr says about blogging and bloggers etc is as true as it is - there are bloggers we all know who are as good as or better than anything you will see in more traditional paper or spectrum journalism. 

But there's also the weird, paranoid, conspiratorial, self-affirming blogosphere that is all that Andrew Marr characterises and worse.

Now, we - journalists - can sit name-calling from our sandcastles ... or we can try to get our heads around what it is that makes both journalists and bloggers trusted and worth our attention. And what it is that makes them both the opposite.

And, whether you happen to be a blogger or a journalist (or both), the thing that matters isn't the platform you use or whether your time is paid for or your own - it's whether you make any useful, truthful contribution to the way in which we understand ourselves and the world around us.