The Possibilities of Blogging

The benefits of Internet technology in communication:

In the Columbia Journalism Review, the article titled “The New Arab Conversation” speaks of how Internet technology has allowed Arabs to describe their living conditions, way of life and the war circumventing government censorship. The Arab blogosphere is helping citizens across the Middle East relate to one another and is detailing the war and conflicts to Western journalists and readers. Thousands more blogs in the Middle East were launched with the outbreak of conflict between Hezbollah and Isreal.

The question of the place for blogs in journalism remains undefined. In Democracy and the News, Gans suggest that the new technology of the Internet will usher in a new “Golden Age” for journalism. It will promise “a constant stream of new and better technological ware.” The Internet, especially with the assistance of blogs, will also contribute to the Putnam’s optimism of civic engagement. Putnam’s Bowling Alone states that civic engagement through the nineties was on a steep decline. Gans said that the decline which Putnam describes began at the end of journalism’s first “Golden Age.” After September 11, however, Putnam became optimistic as civic engagement in communities was reinstituted.

Blogs further contribute to civic engagement in connecting communities on similar sentiments. Further more, it connected the lives of people, through common conflicts and troubles, across the globe. Although people might not be able to physically get together in civic engagement, they could emotionally connect.

One danger with blogs on a whole is that readers will divert their attention to them as legitimate and reliable news sources. It is important to acknowledge blogs as often one side of the story. Blogs might provide news, however they provide information unfiltered, with a specific perspective.

The CJR article says that blogs serve two purposes: they are diaries and they’re personal op-ed Web pages. The American blogosphere is huge and expansive, with new blogs starting up everyday. However, the Arab blogosphere is different because it is confined to a much smaller scope, especially in regards to Arab blogs posted in English. This forces Arabs publishing blogs on similar conflicts to engage with one another, even when they hold contradicting opinions. Arabs are even conversing online with Israelis about the conflicts occurring. This form of communication helps the two fighting cultures to recognize their differences and their similarities, to put a name to the ‘enemy.’ Arab bloggers say the blogging experience has launched because it is an opportunity for them to reclaim their individuality.

In America, journalism is an essential factor to the democratic process. However, what is the role of journalism in these non-democratic countries. This is one reason why blogs are so important to Arabs as a method of expressing individuality: the leaders of countries in the Middle East claim to speak for its citizens. Also, with the exception of a handful of publications, most newspapers and radio and television stations are state-controlled.

In The News About News, it is stated that humans are innately curious beings. Information is more essential to humans than just as a mode through which democracy can work. Some non-democratic regimes in the Middle East have benevolent leaders and are functioning well without democracy. In these regimes, the wide dispersion of information should not threaten the government. Only in rigid, harsh and brutal dictatorial regimes is free and uncensored journalism a threat because it undermines the government’s authority.

Blogs provide for the mass dissemination of information across the Arab world – as every Arab regime and country has a very dramatic effect on the other. Communication and information are vital to every human being, as it allows for a person to more accurately judge the world and judge how their own existence and actions make sense or fit into everything.

In CJR, the article sums up by stating that reform in the Middle East will change when mindsets change as well, along with when the culture of “dissent burgeons” launch where such a culture could not exist before. The advancement in technology has provided a forum for this change to occur, whether it is a turn toward democracy or just a more liberal and benevolent dictatorship.

The blogs in the Middle East are increasingly benefiting American journalism, and therefore, American democracy as well. The Iraqi war and American presence in the Middle East is a controversial issue in Washington, D.C. politics, and will be a rallying point for politicians in the next presidential election. Arab blogs provide a stream of real-time media. Many of experiences posted in Arab blogs capture the events of Arab life and the conflicts occurring better than any American journalism has. Americans can read full descriptions of the experiences Arabs have had under full bombardment. Though these blog accounts have not gained the readership of American mainstream media, they do help contribute to articles covering the Middle East published in mainstream media. The blogs help to paint a picture that American journalists don’t have access to.