Talk is cheap; reporting is expensive

An interesting debate reported over at the Huffington Post which held a debate entitled

Who's Driving Whom? The Blogosphere vs. Mainstream Media," analyzing the relationship between the traditional media and the blogosphere.

One comment that stood out for me was that from Jonathan Alter, Senior Editor and Political Columnist for Newsweek who said that

Talk is cheap; reporting is expensive." According to Alter, putting a journalist on the ground in Iraq -- the only way to get the real story -- costs $1.5 million a year. While he reads many blogs and feels they serve an important purpose for the public, he said that good serious journalism is expensive because it requires time, resources, and "going to the story." Blogs, on the other hand, mostly rely on information that has already been dug up by traditional journalists.

And maybe this comment is the defining statement of the debate.Bloggers are mainly of necessity amateur and rarely have the resources to report to the standards of the so called professional.However to dismiss them out of hand is incorrect as amateur doesn't necessarily mean on the cheap.
Secondly what makes a blogger.It can still be done on a supplement from other incomes or it can be done under the umbrella of the old media.