Why blogging really a matter?

Living in an informative developed world, we can receive latest information from internet immediately. Due to the rapid development of blogging, everyone can set up a blog to express opinion and discuss any current issues. In response to the article, “Bloggers of the world, unite” by Loewenstein A. (2007), I am going to discuss why blogging really a matter?

Blogging is a matter in today society because it has been affecting people views to the world. The writer of “Bloggers of the world, unite” states that blogging has grown popularity in the society, and it is going to replace the mainstream newspapers. Also, blogs are helping to eliminate stereotypes, especially to the developing or non-democratic countries. However, not many countries are enjoying freedom of speech, people do not have the right to express their ideas freely because there are strict censorship from the government. In this case, blogs became an important matter to those citizens who are not enjoying freedom of speech, In the article, the writer says that, 'in non-democratic nations, blogs are often the only form of independent opinion and regularly incur the wrath of government censors".

I believe censorship is an effective way for the government to control the thinking of its people, however, freedom of speech is one of the basic human rights, and everyone in this world should has the right to receive information and express opinion. Maintaing social stability should never be an excuse for the government to control the flow of information. I think the development of blogging is really big matter to the world, because it may be the only way for some people in the world to receive and give information.

What is citizen journalism?

Citizen journalism has been aroused much discussion about its definition and impacts. According to the seminal 2003 report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information, citizen journalism means that there are a group of people who is "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information". I think this is a very concise definition of what citizen journalism is.

From my knowledge, citizen journalists are people who are not trained or profession but publishing news stories or information by modern technology and distribute them through internet. The topic of citizen journalism can be anything from public discussion, latest trend, music or film review, opinion about the government, neighbourhood stories, etc. There are such a large variety of topics that citizen journalists can write about.

Some people will ask who can be the citizen journalists? The answer is everyone, students, teachers, housewives, homeless, immigrates, domestic workers, people you name it, they can be a citizen journalists. However, the name 'citizen journalist' is controversial, people who participate in citizen journalism usually call themselves as bloggers, forum members, discussion leaders, instead of citizen journalists.

I think citizen journalism is crucial in today society, everyone can be a watchdog of the society, people can speak freely and criticise government polices or everything happened around them. In this way, we can know more about things happened in the world, and be more aware things around us. However, when we read those information online, we have to be very careful and should consider the origin of those news. We should always be critical about the authenticity of the information.

Halo!

Halo everyone:) Let's be a citizen journalist!!