At the
Eurasian Media Forum last week, I was asked to talk about how with the rise of citizen media, the traditional press is no longer the opinion former it once was. Although from some perspectives this might be true, I didn’t totally agree.
As news breaks, everyone wants to be the first to publish. As more scoops are first being published online, so is the commentary relating to the stories. Although journalism places a premium on speed, accuracy cannot be lost in the process.
Not a week now without a conflict between bloggers and so-called mainstream media about what is truth and trust in the mediasphere. This time, the British Press Gazette seems to give credence to a well-known blogger in a story related to the Iraqi war: "The American blogger who was instrumental in causing the Pentagon to admit US troops used white phosphorous to attack insurgents in Fallujah (during the autumn 2004) has slammed mainstream news organisations as "irresponsible".
Mark Glaser has convened a virtual round table dedicated in particular to U.S. military bloggers, also called milibloggers: "If the war in Iraq has brought one good thing to the often muddled media landscape, it has been the growing prominence of on-the-scene bloggers, whether they're U.S. Army soldiers on the ground or Iraqi citizens caught in a war zone."
Source: Glaser online - OJR
Reported by Jeff Jarvis: Two Iraqi bloggers -- brothers Ali Fadhil and Mohammed Fadhil of www.IraqTheModel.com -- announced today that they are running for the Iraqi National Assembly... Two citizens who had no voice in their nation a little over a year ago came to blogging and now have a voice that matters and are using that platform to gain a voice in their government... The bloggers have been writing their popular weblog www.IraqTheModel.com since November of 2003. Their weblog has been quoted in major world media, including the BBC, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, National Review, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Bulletin, Dallas Morning, and New York Post... The bloggers are running under the banner of the Iraqi Pro-Democracy Party. Elections will be held after December 2004.
Source: Buzzmachine
Reported by Jeff Jarvis: Two Iraqi bloggers -- brothers Ali Fadhil and Mohammed Fadhil of www.IraqTheModel.com -- announced today that they are running for the Iraqi National Assembly... Two citizens who had no voice in their nation a little over a year ago came to blogging and now have a voice that matters and are using that platform to gain a voice in their government... The bloggers have been writing their popular weblog www.IraqTheModel.com since November of 2003. Their weblog has been quoted in major world media, including the BBC, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, National Review, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Bulletin, Dallas Morning, and New York Post... The bloggers are running under the banner of the Iraqi Pro-Democracy Party. Elections will be held after December 2004.
Source: Buzzmachine
Mark Glaser at the Japan Media Review has written an interesting article that looks at the evolution of blogs and whether this new form of communication is changing the face of traditional journalism. Cori Dauber, an associate professor of Communication Studies, and of Peace, War, and Defense, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is quoted as saying “I really don't consider it a form of journalism. I think there are moments when bloggers take on a reporting function -- clearly the Iraqi bloggers have taken on this role in response to what they see as the failure of Western media. And other bloggers have done so when big events have happened in their areas, particularly when they've felt the need to serve as a corrective to mainstream outlets."
