Blogging has come to be one of the major expressions of our lives, opinions, news and interests online. However, blogs have revolutionised one profession in particular. Journalism has never been more interactive than it has become over the last few years. With the introduction of online news bulletins and news blogs, the average journo whether on TV or writing for a paper will have a corresponding blog.
Almost all major newspapers now have an online version of themselves and “from 2004 to 2005, the number of online newspapers that hosted blogs nearly doubled (Lowrey & Mackay, 2006). Many journalists have their own blogs, which emphasize local issues. Some journalist blogs are more opinionated that others, but regardless of how they are worded, they often provide readers a more personal account of the news (Singer 2005).” (Mackay, Wilson 2008)
From professional blogs has come citizen journalism where anyone who had access to the internet donned a press hat and people were reporting on the political situation in their country where they could not rely on the media to do so. Citizen journalists form Uganda and Afghanistan have been some of the most radical and revealing communicating with the world from war zones. “Uganda has had blogs for some years now (over 200) on various topics raging from day-to-day life to sports, political commentary, religion and technology. During the Mabira Forest give-away chaos, a young Ugandan with offices in the city centre was posting updates every hour of what he saw from his window” (New Vision 2008) and during the post election violence in Nairobi, the conventional media focussed on the fighting in the streets and villages, bloggers told us about the silent homes, supermarkets, kiosks and bars.
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