I believe both Om Malik and Mike Arrington would classify themselves as journalists but I wonder if they are not the first of a new kind of hybrid journalist-analyst. Maybe they should be called janalysts? Both TechCrunch and GigaOm deliver insightful analysis of Web 2.0/consumer Internet sites. Plus, they do it in near real-time using short detailed information about the latest product launches. For me a short detailed blog post is far superior than a 40 page report. Who has time to read these reports anymore anyway?

As far as I can tell the only thing that differentiates them from an analyst is that they derive most of their income from advertising. Traditional analysts mostly make money by either selling their reports and/or doing some kind of paid consulting.

In the end, all that really matters is disclosure. I don’t care how you make your money, I only care that you are clear about where it comes from. Let the market/Internet/blogosphere decide if it’s truly valuable, objective, and/or unbiased.