The relationship between bloggers and journalists is complicated. On one hand, journalists feel intimidated by bloggers' ability to rapidly cover new material; on the other, journalists are dismissive of bloggers' lack of code with respect to neutrality and checking of sources. In general only one-third of bloggers think their blog is a form of journalism. Overall the most frequently reported journalistic activities are spending extra time verifying facts, getting permission to post copyrighted material, and including links to original source material that has been cited or in some way used in a post. Whether or not someone engages in these activities may be one way to distinguish between a blogger and a journalist.

Journalist-identified bloggers view their practice as journalism and believe that they should be given journalistic protections under the law. The 2004 Apple v. Does case triggered the debate on who should be considered a journalist on the web. Apple lawyers contended that posting information on the Web should not automatically confer the title of journalist since these folks "are not members of any professional community governed by ethical and professional standards". In the end the courts decided against Apple and ruled that if you can post information on a Web site, you're entitled to the same legal protections the law extends to the mainstream media.