The Looming War on Bloggers

 Flickr Photo by minifig

Are Bloggers Really Just "Eyeballs With No Insight" or "Digital Dickweeds"?

Those
who run the gigantic news corporations, the accredited news
organizations, those who are members of the press gaggle that far too
often choose access over practicing investigative journalism---Those
who control and work in the media with which we get the majority of our
information on news and current events from are seeking to prevent the
rise of bloggers in this nation.

Perhaps analogous
to the way that the music industry is now in shambles because they did
not anticipate that the Internet would lead people to use means of file
sharing to get music instead of purchasing CDs or albums, the news
industry presumably fears that its power will be infringed upon by
lowlife citizens who have taken it upon themselves to pretend they know
how to report and discuss the news.

Those in the
Rupert Murdoch Empire have been watching closely and have been trying
to sow the seeds of Internet news so that people will be prepared to
buy news. Murdoch & Co. would like it so that bloggers like you and
me have to pay a premium for information and then it would be less
possible for us to argue for or against an issue. Pursuing an agenda
for a cause or against an individual would be more difficult.

John Hartigan, CEO for News Limited, which RAW STORY reports
is "a cog in the Rupert Murdoch empire responsible for the publication
of more than fifty newspapers in Australia," appeared before the
National Press Club in Canberra to argue that the newspaper business
will adapt and survive.(Full text is posted here.)

While
his overview of how the health of news organizations has declined in
the past year is worth reading, of particular interest is what he has
to say about bloggers.

Hartigan quoted Andrew Keen, author of Cult of the Amateur,
saying, "Citizen journalists, he says, simply don't have the resources
to bring us reliable news. They lack not only expertise and training
but access to decision makers and reliable sources."

Keen's quote and Hartigan's argument would be more valid if The Australian,
a national newspaper that Hartigan's own News Limited owns, wasn't
publishing articles that, in the midst of the Iranian regime's
crackdown on journalists and media, imply and suggest that Iranians are
providing reliable news to news organizations around the world. 

For example, in an article, "Citizen journalism arises from media's rubble," how Iranians have used Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and CNN's iReport is highlighted. The Australian's Middle
East correspondent, John Lyons, is quoted saying, ""Citizen journalism
has its shortcomings but the Iran uprising has shown it is a net
benefit."

Despite the fact that the article includes
portions that urge caution when relying on citizen journalism for
accurate information, it would seem that most often what is gained from
those in the midst of the "news" which is unfolding are telling it like
it is. After all, what is the incentive to lie?

Hartigan
believes that, "the difference between professionals and amateurs is
that bloggers don't go to jail for their work – they simply aren't held
accountable like real reporters."

Interestingly enough, his own
newspaper in the same article cited above proves his assertion to be
foolishly wrong. It acknowledges how Iran currently "surpasses China in
the number of journalists and webbloggers behind bars." Obviously,
these bloggers have, contrary to Hartigan's belief, gone to jail for their work.

Additionally, RAW STORY points out "bloggers have been jailed for various reasons."

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