Blogosphere

Blog. It kind of sounds like something out of Star Wars if you ask me. But we all know it isn’t. A Blog is a powerful media tool that somewhere in cyberspace has transformed from what seemed like a live journal to a highly credible and widely proliferated muckracking journalism device. As the current presidential administration has tightened their reigns on the news sector of the media and has been censoring what information the public “needs” to know about, individuals have taken it upon themselves to dig up the missing information and publish it themselves on their Blogs. The effort of individuals taking matters into their own hands, and taking a stand against the mis-information they were given by the government and mainstream press is a victory in citizens’ activism in media. Any person with an Internet connection can write a Blog and post it. Any person with an Internet connection can read what others have written and find answers for themselves without depending only on mainstream news sources. Let’s examine some successes and shortcomings of Blogs in the recent years since their inception.

The first Blog I ever read was written by a friend of mine about her favorite TV shows. I thought to myself, “why would anyone think someone else would want to read this?” This alleged “Blog” was halfway between a diary and a rant, and had no relevance to the public in any way. But as I thought about it, this woman was using a media outlet to practice her writing and share it with others. A Blog is a free service, so she was using something in the realm of the Commons to share her voice and thoughts with other in the public sphere. That element of the situation was pretty amazing. Most Blogs began this way; as little windows into people’s minds and ideas. People often think that what they think is interesting or important will also be interesting or important to others (when it usually isn’t), but at least people were starting to use the Internet as an active and not a passive resource.

In about 2004, Blogs had a major transitional shift from being personal diaries to being ground-breaking news sources. Because Blogs do not have to be held accountable to any editorial or fact-checking process, there is a danger in accepting what you read on any and every Blog as the Truth (notice the capital “T”). However, as the “Blogosphere,” as they say, has grown into being recognized as a source people go to for information and answers, many larger-scale Blogs do have a review process and can be held accountable for what is posted. Nationally recognized Blogs such as the Daily Kos has a review process for members to post stories and comments. Others such as Raw Story and Truthout.org post mostly headlines from television and print news as well as news stories that may not have reached mainstream press. These are examples of Blogs that do not have a wide-open policy for allowing people to post. When a Blog starts to restrict access to posting, I question whether it is still serving the same purpose as it originally intended. Blogs were created as windows into people’s thoughts or writings that others could read and comment on. Now that they are crossing into the sector of news, where should they draw the line with public involvement?

I think this is a question for any activist movement – where should the line be drawn with public involvement and with organization and structure? For people to trust the news that they read on a Blog, they want to be certain that the information wasn’t made up or manipulated. However, as we have learned from Noam Chomsky or from our experience with the mainstream news, the mainstream creates “expert” sources who we consider to be telling the truth who may not have our best interests in mind at all. We often forget to think about the fact that the “experts” might be just as likely to make up a story as a random Blogger. Regardless of the source, I guess the lesson is that we must always be cautious not to believe everything we hear, read, or see; especially in this day and age.

Blogs got down to business uncovering stories about the war when it was clear that something fishy was going on with the mainstream press. Since 2004, Blogs offering news information have focused mostly on the “misinformation” coming from the White House Press Corp about war coverage and scandals. In late 2004, Bloggers noticed irregularities in the reporting style and attention given to reporter Jeff Gannon and decided to investigate. Through one google search leading to the next, bloggers on Mediamatters.org found that “Talon News” was not an independent news source, and was a source created by the Republican Party. Not only was Gannon not a real reporter, he was a former male pornography star, quite ironic for the Republic Party to turn to. With this development, Bloggers took off into looking deep into anything that didn’t quite sound right in the news. Blogs such as the Dailykos.com have uncovered that Bush wore a wire during his debates in the past election and were responsible for revealing many of the recent scandals with members of the House of Representatives.

Still, Blogs also have been known to appear as though they were reporting news when they are really just providing false or overtly editorialized information. But again, the degree to which this simple fact is a problem is a matter of people believing everything at face value. The Internet should be a part of the commons, and Blogs provide any person the forum to be able to publish their writing for free on the Internet. A democracy is based on the marketplace of ideas, and the Blogosphere is an example of a true marketplace where anyone can share their ideas. Within this marketplace, Bloggers have exposed cover-ups and lies in the government and in the mainstream press where there was not a free-flowing exchange of ideas. I think that this is a real victory with activist journalism.

Nowadays it seems like everyone has a Blog. Blogs are showing up on almost every established website for prominent individuals and organizations. People want a forum to discuss their thoughts and feelings; and when given the opportunity, they’ll do it! Using the Internet, Bloggers can reach people from all over the world and communicate in a dialogue that otherwise may not have taken place. Using the Internet also allows the content or message of a Blog to reach millions if not billions of people world-wide. Bloggers are watching closely; they will not allow mainstream news to give us the “facts” and expect us to slurp them up without asking any questions. If we had Bloggers on the case in the 2000 election, perhaps Gore would not have conceded to Bush after Fox News decided to report that Bush had won the election. That kind of power, power to influence the decision in a presidential election, is a dangerous amount of power that needs to be curbed. I believe that the potential of the mass proliferation of Blogging has the power to curb the influence of mainstream media.

There are shortcomings to the world of Blogs, even beyond the obvious that not all of the information on Blogs is guaranteed to be true. Retuning to the issue that I find to be most controversial is that as some Blogs grow and enter into the realm of being reliable news sources, they begin to close their doors on the public dialogue. I question if they even are Blogs anymore at this point and if there is some new word halfway between “news” and “Blog” that should be used to describe this. I understand the reason for restricting the material that can be posted on a Blog is so that people can turn to it for reliable and sourced information. This is essential for news stories. However, it is not inherently essential in the Blogging process and I wonder if the shift of Blogs from a wide-open forum to a monitored news source is going to change the effect that Blogs have in relaying an important message or discovery.