Journalism Training for Bloggers?

The article What Is Journalism’s Place in Social Media? shows a need for training not just for journalists in the age of social media, but also for hobbyist bloggers/social media content providers, and at least a little training for information consumers.

We have expressed concern in class about the declining quality of traditional journalism as budgets and staffs get squeezed.  Perhaps part of the answer is to train people who blog as a pastime to be better, and to be aware of some of what good journalism really is, and why it is more fun than being a shill for a particular side of the political debate.  Not a full-blown college class, but something less time consuming and less expensive, perhaps more on the order of a continuing education class, or online seminars, or simply guidelines for bloggers who want to be taken seriously as journalists.  A quick check online did not turn up any classes like this from any sources I was familiar with, although there must be something available.  There are already a number of journalism training groups, to say nothing of J-schools at colleges and universities.  

In the past, news consumers have usually been able to quickly evaluate a source's veracity more easily.  If the information in question is a daily newspaper or a national news magazine, it often could be considered fairly reliable.  If the source is a friend gossiping about what they heard from someone else, the information might be less reliable.

If newspapers and magazines are being replaced by bloggers online, it becomes more difficult to tell which blogger you can believe.  Perhaps something like this assistant professor's guidelines, or this.