The word critic comes from the Greek κριτικός, kritikós - one who discerns, which itself arises from the Ancient Greek word κριτής, krités, meaning a person who offers reasoned judgment or analysis, value judgment, interpretation, or observation.
Modern critics include professionals or amateurs who regularly judge or interpret performances or other works (such as those of artists, scientists, musicians, or actors), and typically publish their observations, often in periodicals. Critics are numerous in certain fields, including art, music, film, theatre or drama, restaurant, and scientific publication critics.
This definition suggests that the next question to ask is whether bloggers are professionals or amateurs. There certainly seems to be a clear division between a professional critic, i.e. A. O. Scott, who is actually paid to tell us his opinion, and amateur critics, i.e. me, whenever I feel like it, sadly, not paid.
But blogging is not so clear. Is this distinction even a meaningful one for blogging? What is a professional blogger? Is blogging, by its very nature, an non-professional activity?
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