A couple of weeks ago over at the Huffington Post Blogs a gentleman by the name of Dave Johnson wrote a little commentary in response to criticism from Washington insiders who criticize the legitimacy of bloggers. In this article Dave Johnson argues that it is not the bloggers but rather the blogging software that scares government officials.
The basic argument from politicians and other government authorities is that, blogs are dangerous and should be controlled. While Mr. Johnson sates that:
When you criticize “the bloggers” and question the legitimacy of what they are saying, you are questioning the concept of democracy itself.
On this particular instance I agree with Mr. Dave Johnson. Blogging promotes the idea of free speech better than anything the internet has seen so far. Anyone can start a blog, it is as easy as going to Blogger and sign up for an account and Blogger is just one of many free blogging services available on the internet. If someone would like to run a blog on their own website it is as easy as installing WordPress. So the proliferation of blogging is going to continue to grow as more people realize exactly what it is. What blogging as done is given everyone who wants a public voice the ability to have one. From a politician’s standpoint, this is a very scary thing. People can “speak” and be heard/read/watched with ease.
The continued growth of free speech is dangerous to any government, even one that has such a freedom as one of its first rights. By giving people a voice, a government is open to scorn from its very own citizens and no government official enjoys scorn. Sure, free speech is dandy when it helps push agendas they can agree with, but if you start questioning motives, ideas, and policies you might find yourself on the wrong end of a law that the politician is on the committee for.
Now, this does not mean that a person should go off on a posting spree and write grossly inaccurate articles and just flame every politian or person in sight. Quite the contrary. All a freedom of speech right means is that a person can do those things. Besides, what most of the people questioning the legitimacy of bloggers fail to realize is that, people on the internet do not overly care for garbage, and if a blogger wants readers they will need to put some thought and effort into their posts. Believe me when I say that people looking for accurate information are going to find it and it can very much be from a blog. A blogger has to work to gain credibility. A new blogger can not just post something randomly and receive tons of legitimacy. In the blogging world, it is the readers whom determine legitimacy. And who can really blame people for looking else where for legitimate opinions, facts, and news updates? Two major news papers just last year were found to have knowingly lied about facts and even doctor photographs. Not sure about you, but I would like something a little more credible.
I think that real journalists (those that actually went to school for their trade and work for reputable journalistic outlet) have very little to fear from the blogging community. Legitimacy still comes from the time honored tradition of hitting the streets (or in bloggers case the internet) and digging up facts, researching data, and compiling that into articles that are readable. So criticizing bloggers is really going to accomplish nothing more than cause flame wars.
[Technorati Tag: Commentary]
[Technorati Tag: Blogging]
Michael Koby 
Its The Blogs
A couple of weeks ago over at the Huffington Post Blogs a gentleman by the name of Dave Johnson wrote a little commentary in response to criticism from Washington insiders who criticize the legitimacy of bloggers. In this article Dave Johnson argues that it is not the bloggers but rather the blogging software that scares government officials.
The basic argument from politicians and other government authorities is that, blogs are dangerous and should be controlled. While Mr. Johnson sates that:
On this particular instance I agree with Mr. Dave Johnson. Blogging promotes the idea of free speech better than anything the internet has seen so far. Anyone can start a blog, it is as easy as going to Blogger and sign up for an account and Blogger is just one of many free blogging services available on the internet. If someone would like to run a blog on their own website it is as easy as installing WordPress. So the proliferation of blogging is going to continue to grow as more people realize exactly what it is. What blogging as done is given everyone who wants a public voice the ability to have one. From a politician’s standpoint, this is a very scary thing. People can “speak” and be heard/read/watched with ease.
The continued growth of free speech is dangerous to any government, even one that has such a freedom as one of its first rights. By giving people a voice, a government is open to scorn from its very own citizens and no government official enjoys scorn. Sure, free speech is dandy when it helps push agendas they can agree with, but if you start questioning motives, ideas, and policies you might find yourself on the wrong end of a law that the politician is on the committee for.
Now, this does not mean that a person should go off on a posting spree and write grossly inaccurate articles and just flame every politian or person in sight. Quite the contrary. All a freedom of speech right means is that a person can do those things. Besides, what most of the people questioning the legitimacy of bloggers fail to realize is that, people on the internet do not overly care for garbage, and if a blogger wants readers they will need to put some thought and effort into their posts. Believe me when I say that people looking for accurate information are going to find it and it can very much be from a blog. A blogger has to work to gain credibility. A new blogger can not just post something randomly and receive tons of legitimacy. In the blogging world, it is the readers whom determine legitimacy. And who can really blame people for looking else where for legitimate opinions, facts, and news updates? Two major news papers just last year were found to have knowingly lied about facts and even doctor photographs. Not sure about you, but I would like something a little more credible.
I think that real journalists (those that actually went to school for their trade and work for reputable journalistic outlet) have very little to fear from the blogging community. Legitimacy still comes from the time honored tradition of hitting the streets (or in bloggers case the internet) and digging up facts, researching data, and compiling that into articles that are readable. So criticizing bloggers is really going to accomplish nothing more than cause flame wars.
[Technorati Tag: Commentary]
[Technorati Tag: Blogging]
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