Welcome to Layalina Productions

The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 2, January 02-January 15, 2009

Bloggers Rival Journalists

The blogosphere, which provides countless information and bypasses traditional outlets for unsanctioned opinions, has come to be a competitor to traditional journalism, according to the Kipp Report. However, a lack of credible sources and biased points of views, accusations often thrown at bloggers, threaten the field of journalism, warns the news site.

According to Deborah Branscum, a contributing editor to Newsweek, blogging offers creative freedom, instantaneity and interactivity, and does not need many marketing skills. Even though blogging has burgeoned over the past years, especially in heavily censored countries across the Middle East, credibility remains a pivotal factor affecting the readership.

"Just because blogging is not a form of journalism, it does not mean it may not bring out some truth and raise awareness about certain subjects," comments the Kipp Report.

A recent report from Reporters Without Borders says five of the world’s top thirteen internet-censoring regimes are in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and Syria are considered as the most "hostile" towards the internet. Other countries in the region fall somewhere in between. Governments censor certain websites and draft laws "to curb online dissent," notes the report.

According to Trevor Mostyn of the Journalism Fellowship Program at the Reuters Institute, bloggers have a very difficult time in the Middle East, with many of them facing arrest.

Bloggers have not become substitutes for journalists in more conservative countries, although "blogging serves as an alternative outlet for opinions and points of view," concludes the Kipp Report.

Additionally, the death toll of journalists and government crackdowns on internet journalists and bloggers are increasing, notes STL Today. The censorship of sites such as Twitter (in Syria) or Facebook (blocked in Syria and Tunisia, and filtered in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates) leads to massive amounts of content being blocked," continued the news site.

"The Asia-Pacific and Maghreb-Middle East regions are still the deadliest for the press," noted the Reporters Without Borders annual report.

"The fall in the number of journalists from the traditional media killed or arrested in 2008 does not mean the press freedom situation has improved," the report stressed. "As the print and broadcast media evolve and the blogosphere becomes a worldwide phenomenon, predatory activity is increasingly focusing on the internet."