Aren’t analysts just another kind of journalist?

OK, great question from an ‘outsider’ yesterday.

“What makes analysts different from journalists?  Surely they are the same thing?”

So people, what does?  Are the lines blurring?

Does the switch from the irregular output research paper world to the blogging and twittering mean that analysts are becoming journalists?

What makes them any different?

Do they lose credibility by this?

(Apologies for absence last week, various factors including school holidays prevented me from posting, but it means I had a lot of thinking time too… 😉 )