THE BLOGGING JOURNALIST

Egypt Releases 30 Bloggers, Activists

Egypt’s Al-Masry Al-Youm  daily reported January 16, 2010 that, “Around 30 bloggers and activists were released” that day  “after being briefly detained”  in Qena, Egypt, by the “Security Directorate.” See “Naga Hammadi bloggers' released after one-day detention.”

According to the publication, “The young men and women were apprehended in Naga Hammadi's train station, southern Qena, after traveling from Cairo to offer condolences to the families of victims of sectarian violence and pay their respect to Bishop Kirollos of the Naga Hammadi Diocese, who was allegedly himself a target in the attacks against Christians there.”

Technorati Tags: Egyptian Bloggers. Al-Masry Al-Youm

Bloggers Now Subject To Jordan’s Press And Publication Law

Jordanian blogger Ebtihal Mahadeen has a January 17, 2010, post at Global Voices on what some Jordanian bloggers are saying about the Jordanian Cessation Court’s recent decision to subject electronic websites” to Jordan’s draconian Press and Publication Law.

If you want to read what some bloggers are saying  and review the list of restrictions, see “Jordan: Bloggers Take On Controversial Court Ruling.” Also see The Jordanian Times’ January 15, 201, post headlined “Court ruling threatens press freedom – activists.”

Technorati Tags: Jordanian Bloggers,Jordan's Press and Publications Law,Ebtihal Mahadeen,Global Voices

Yoani Sanchez Describes How To Silence A Blogger in Cuba

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez describes in a January 12, 2010, post how Cuban authorities learned to silence journalists and are now turning their attention to bloggers. See “Silencing a Blogger.”

Writing in her Generacion Y blog, Sanchez describes the rise of independent journalists in Cuba and  the risk they took to introduce a journalism not controlled by the states.

“In the spring of 2003 everything that seemed dangerous and risky turned into punishment” for these journalists, according to Sanchez. “Many of them went in prison to serve sentences of ten, fifteen, twenty years. The majority are still behind bars.” Adds Sanchez, who was abducted on November 6, 2009, allegedly by men connected with Cuban authorities[see “A gangland style kidnapping”]:

We bloggers came later, among other reasons because the technology came to us slowly. I dare say that the authorities did not imagine that citizens would appeal to a global resource to express themselves. The government controls the television studio cameras, the radio station microphones, the pages of the magazines and periodicals located on Island territory, but up there, far from their reach, a satellite network—demonized but essential—offers to those who aim for it, the opportunity to “hang” their opinions in practically unlimited form.

Sanchez said it took Cuban authorities “time to understand it, but they are starting to. As you know, to silence a blogger you can’t use the same methods that work to silence so many journalists.” she contends, adding: “No one can fire these impertinents of the web from the editorial board of a daily paper, nor promise them a week in Varadero or a Lada car as compensation, much less entice them with a trip to Eastern Europe.”

“To stop a blogger,” according to Sanchez, “you must eliminate or intimidate them and this equation has begun to be understood by the State, the Party… the General.”

Technorati Tags: Blogger Yoani Sanchez,Cuba,Silencing Cuban Bloggers

What Are Chinese Bloggers Saying About Google Leaving China?

Jonathan Watts, guardian.co.uk, January 13, 2010:  “Chinese bulletin boards and microblogs have been buzzing all day with chatter about Google's announcement [that it may abandon the Chinese market over China’s alleged hacking of Google corporate infrastructure in an effort to get at Chinese human rights activists’ Gmail accounts]. The vast majority either supported Google's decision to challenge the censors or expressed regret at the possible loss of a cherished search engine, but there was also criticism of the US firm's business tactics.”

If you want to read more, see “Google pulls out of China: what the bloggers are saying.” Also see “Google stops short of fingering China for cyber attacks.” Google’s official statement, headlined A New Approach to China,  can be found at The Official Google Blog.

Technorati Tags: Google & China,Chinese Bloggers

Hossam el-Hamalawy Named ‘Middle East Blogger Of The Year’

The Egyptian blog Bikya Masr has named journalist and blogger Hossam el-Hamalawy its “Middle East blogger of the year because he gives without needing something in return.” According to Bikya Masr:

He has turned away from the infighting that has taken hold of the blogosphere in recent times and has held strong to his passion. He is someone all should look up to and respect, considering there are so many bloggers that do not deserve our respect and decency. Hamalawy has shown us that being a good person and being good at what one does do not have to be separated.

If you want to read more, please see “Middle East Blogger of the Year: Arabawy.”

Technorati Tags: Bikya Masr,Hossam el-Hamalawy

Will A Powerful, Left-wing Blogosphere Arise In The UK in 2010?

James Crabtree at the New Statesman thinks “the rise of a genuinely powerful, left-wing blogosphere” in the United Kingdom “will soon reshape British politics.” See “Winning the web war.”

“At the moment,” he writes in a December 30, 2009, post, “ progressive online activists such as [Anthony ] Painter - along with blogs such as LabourList and Liberal Conspiracy - get little respect. They wield none of the clout of the Conservative "big three": Iain Dale, Guido Fawkes and ConservativeHome, which are the Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United of British blogging.”

Technorati Tags: James Crabtree,The New Statesman,Andrew Painter,Iain Dale,Guido Fawkes,ConservativeHome,Labourlist,Liberal Conspiracy

Crib Chronicles Named Canada’s Best Personal Blog For 2009

Bonnie Stewart of Prince Edward Island, Canada, proprietor of Crib Chronicles, “has just been named this year's best personal blog by the Canadian Blog Awards,” according to CBC News of Canada. For more, see “P.E.I. woman wins Canadian blogging award.”

Technorati Tags: Canadian Blog Awards,Crib Chronicles,Bonnie Stewart

Court: Google India Not Responsible For Defamatory Blogs

“Google India cannot be held responsible for defamatory blogs appearing on the search giant's website for the time being,” Hetal Vyas reported December 26, 2009, at the Indian news site Digital News & Analysis. See “For now, Google let off the hook on defamatory blogs.”

According to Vyas, “The Bombay high court, on an appeal filed by the company, recently granted it ad interim relief, which means Google India cannot be accused if defamatory blogs are published on the website as the platform is "controlled" by Google Inc, based in the US.”

Technorati Tags: Google India,Digital News & Analysis,Google's Blogger Platform

A Message to Bloggers

Recommended: Turkish blogger Fatmanur Erdogan’s December 24, 2009, post “Bloggers: Turn the light onto yourselves.”

Technorati Tags: Fatmanur Erdogan,Turkish Bloggers,Bloggers

Who is the Liar: The Blogger or The Politician?

Herald Scotland has a December 17, 2009, editorial that includes a warning to politicians who use blogging to smear their political opponents.

Headlined “We can do without these online smear campaigns,” the editorial was prompted by the political brouhaha surrounding the allegation that Mark MacLachlan, former aide to Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Michael Russell, published false information about some Russell opponents and critics at the blog The Universality of Cheese in order to damage them politically.

Russell fired MacLachlan amid claims that he wasn’t aware of what his aide was up to with the blog.

Rupert Murdoch’s highly opinionated News of the World exposed MacLachlan, who wrote under the name “Montague Burton.” He “began blogging in February this year, off my own back and in my own time.”

MacLachlan, who sounds believable to me based on my reading of his blog, claims that, “…Mr Russell not only knew about but suggested possible stories for the blawg…” See “Ding dong merrily on high” for context and MacLachlan’s  account of the dispute. He has also released emails between himself and Russell to support his position. Also see the Herald Scotland’s December 17, 2009, post headlined “E-mails ‘link’ Russell to SNP smear blog that he denied knowledge of.”

Also see MacLachlan’s December 13, 2009, article in Times Online headlined “Cybernat? I was just having fun.”

Meanwhile, Russell, according to the BBC, told journalists on December 17, 2009, that he stands by his statement that he had absolutely no knowledge of what MacLachlan was blogging about. "I stand absolutely by that statement and am entirely confident that I have acted properly throughout this matter in every way,"  he was quoted as saying. See “Scottish minister issues legal threat amid blogging row.”

He also said, according to the BBC, “I have instructed solicitors to make it clear to my former employee that his allegations are totally false and that any repetition of them by him will result in legal action."

Both the politician and the blogger need to simmer down. Lawyers can be quite costly.

Technorati Tags: Mark MacLachlan,Scotland's Michael Russell,The Universality of Cheese

2010 Olympic Committee Will Open Media Center for Bloggers

“A media centre for bloggers and cell phone videographers without official press credentials for the 2010 Winter Olympics will be open throughout the Games in the heart of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood,” reports Robert Matas of The Globe and Mail of Toronto, Canada.

If you want to read more, see “'Citizen journalists' score Games media centre.”

Technorati Tags: 2010 Winter Olympics,2010 Olympic Media Center for Bloggers

The Miami Herald: ‘Cuba Fighting Blogs With Blogs’

The Miami Herald’s Juan O. Tamayo reported December 13, 2009, that, “Cuba is counter-attacking its cyber-foes with government backers calling them mercenaries and CIA agents, but sometimes admitting it's difficult to fight Internet critics like well-known blogger Yoani Sánchez.”

If you want to read more, see “Cuba fighting blogs with blogs.”

Technorati Tags: Cuban Bloggers,Cuban Government Bloggers,Juan O. Tamayo,The Miami Herald

Why 19 Filipino Bloggers Created Blog Watch

Philippines-based mb.com has a December 15, 2009, post on “a group of 19 bloggers” who are seeking to harness the power of blogging for the 2010 elections in the Philippines. They are doing so “through Blog Watch, an initiative to feature underplayed but equally important election related-stories that may not receive as much attention from the country’s mainstream media.”

I highly recommend it. You can read more at “19 bloggers, 1 mega blog.”

Technorati Tags: Blog Watch. mb.com

The Cuban Blogosphere

On December 6, 2009, In These Times published an informative and in-depth account of the Cuban blogosphere. Writes Orlando Pardo Lazo:

On the Island, the blogosphere is an incipient media and, outside of Havana, all but invisible. Though their work generates controversies and awards worldwide, Cuban bloggers are largely unknown here. With Internet access in Cuba restricted to the very few, the nation’s bloggers function as a kind of guerrilla underground.

If you want to read about it, please see “Inside Cuba: Guerrilla Blogging.” Reading articles such Pardo’s is clear reminder of why we shouldn’t want the U.S. government to provide bailout money for U.S. newspapers and other media outlets. Too much government control stifles creativity.

Technorati Tags: Cuban blogosphere,In These Times,Orlando Pardo Lazo