The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : `BLOGOSPHERE' JOURNALISM

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 10, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

`BLOGOSPHERE' JOURNALISM

THE EVOLUTION OF the Internet as a medium of free speech has generated unique modes of personal expression online. The most recent of these is the `blog' or web log. A blog is an online diary or journal. It is created using web technology so simple that it is possible to publish a web page with chronological entries at the push of a button. Potentially anyone can create a free blog and post one's thoughts for all surfers of the World Wide Web. The impact of web logs as a channel of independent publication was evident in the run-up to the United States-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. The experience set a narrative tradition that presented the fears and suffering of the people in the form of stark diary entries living the moment. The `Baghdad Blogger' — who was subsequently revealed to be Salam Pax — had such an impact globally with his graphic reports that he feared reprisals from the Baathist censors of Saddam Hussein. The Baghdad Blogger came to acquire an iconic status: his postings have become the subject of a book and his story has been seen fit to become a film script.

Web logs, of which there are an estimated 1.2 million in English and 1.9 million in all languages combined, promise to have a profound influence on campaigns and mobilisations for various causes. The American presidential election has witnessed the emergence of political bloggers as a distinct community. It is widely acknowledged that their efforts helped create a band of online supporters for early aspirants such as Howard Dean, whose campaign staff leveraged support on the Internet to raise a significant level of campaign funds. The recent Democratic National Convention to choose the party's nominee for the U.S. presidential election is reckoned to have made history of sorts by extending press accreditation and wireless access to about 30 bloggers; they have used camera phones and philosophical jottings to offer a candid and unorthodox view of the proceedings, updated virtually by the minute. The mainstream media have taken note of the practitioners of this new form of communication, with some of them invited by established media houses to augment their coverage of the presidential election conventions. The Republican National Convention is now set to have its own dedicated section of bloggers.

Whether blogging represents a new form of personal journalism on the web is a question being debated by media analysts, some of whom have their own widely read online diaries. While legal issues connected with free speech remain a grey area, bloggers have attracted enough attention to make commentators think this new phenomenon may be able to fill gaps in mainstream journalism. Those who think web logs represent a `revolution in free speech' see in it a refreshing unorthodoxy missing in conventional journalism. What blogging appears to lack, critics contend, is professional rigour and editorial scepticism and scrutiny. There is no consensus on what the emerging practice represents but the major international news organisations have begun to add a more sedate version of blogging to their websites. Lifestyle blogs and a dedicated community of young diarists have emerged in India too, but thanks to the high cost of going online they represent nothing more than a particle in the `blogosphere'. With wider and more affordable access to the Internet and greater tolerance of free speech, more web enthusiasts will be able to post their thoughts online, offering insights into events, incidents and everyday lives across the country in ways not thought possible before. This may well come to be recognised as part of the `new journalism' of the next decade.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

News Update

Stories in this Section

BUILD ON THE CEASEFIRE

`BLOGOSPHERE' JOURNALISM

From triumph to demoralisation

Berlusconi battles discontent

Criminals in politics

Needless confrontation