I’ll let you in on a little secret: A lot of professional journalists feel pretty snooty about bloggers. I know because I used to be one. In fact, I probably would have created a blog much sooner if not for the fact that for the longest time, I didn’t want to be associated with “amateurs.”

With a bit of understanding, journalists (and retired journalists) might be excused for the hostility.

• Most journalists went to school to learn to do what they do, while many bloggers went to school and learned to do something different … something that probably pays better.
• Journalists view writing as their career, their milk and bread, while most bloggers view writing as a hobby.
• Journalists wrongly view bloggers’ hobby as something that helped put them out of a job. The truth is a lot more complicated than that.

While I am disgusted by some of the…