Is Buzzfeed Real Journalism?

Buzzfeed is considered to be a popular main stream form of online journalism that many people (both people interested in the news and those that only occasionally peruse articles about the current trending events) have encountered. But Buzzfeed's immature reporting style, comical design and sometimes irrelevant article topics draw to question: is Buzzfeed credible news?

Now when I want to judge the credibility of something, I consider whether I would cite evidence from it (in this case, Buzzfeed) in an intellectual debate or essay for class. I wouldn't. But does that make Buzzfeed any less of a worthy news source.

Aspiring journalists and journalism veterans have all acknowledged that Buzzfeed is gaining popularity and is considered to be the journalism of the future. But since it is catered to social media, it loses a lot of its credibility. Buzzfeed is the new Wikipedia: well meaning but too much of a risk to credit.

I guess that the main reason for the mockery towards Buzzfeed comes from its nonsensical quizzes. I admit that I have wasted multiple hours that I could used to study for math to take quizzes to find out which Kardashian I am. But they do take away from the sophistication of Buzzfeed as they really hold no informative value.

But Buzzfeed has mastered the art of relevant news. It is up to date and you can be sure that Buzzfeed will report on things within a timely manner. This is something many news sources have yet to master. 

And can we please applaud Buzzfeed for its incredible investigative stories? They are in depth and engaging and worthwhile. They are everything that I could have hoped for.

But then again, Buzzfeed tends to be a little opinionated. And while I agree with the liberal views of many of their writers, I suppose it's a bit biased. 

Final verdict: depends on the article and section. Nonetheless, if all you hope to gain is a basic understanding of certain topics, Buzzfeed is a great source to check up, however; before citing it or basing your opinion of it, double check with other sources.

What journalism is is a very abstract concept. No on gets to determine what qualifies as good reporting. The main point of journalism is to inform the public and if the source does that, it technically is news.

In my opinion, Buzzfeed is real journalism. Maybe not in the typical sense of the word but it upholds the ethics of journalism making it a worthy news source.

Let me know your opinions as I would love to hear them.