The Blogging Revolution - Antony Loewenstein
The explosion of blogging has given many writers a much-needed voice and many readers a revealing insight into the real world, as Antony Loewenstein's new book, The Blogging Revolution, explains.
In
the years after September 11, 2001, I was constantly frustrated by the
failure of the Western media to examine the real reasons behind the
attacks. It was as if only a Western journalist's filter was allowed to
see the post 9/11 world. From the hills of Afghanistan to the deserts
of Iraq, I constantly waited to read indigenous voices from these
conflict zones. They rarely came.
The internet has revolutionised
the ways in which the world communicates, does business and dissents.
In Western societies, such advances are irreversible but what about the
rest of the planet? In 2007 I visited Egypt, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia,
Cuba and China to examine how the net was challenging authoritarian
regimes, the role of Western multinationals such as Google, Yahoo and
Microsoft in the assistance of web filtering and how misinformed we are
in the West towards states considered "enemies" or "allies".
I
spoke to writers, journalists, politicians, dissidents and citizens to
gauge attitudes towards social and political issues in their countries
and what they really thought about taboo subjects. Blogs, websites and
online forums prove that state-run media are usually little more than
propaganda-producing outlets. In many places, therefore, online media
is the only space to find quality and reliable information.
Across
the world, young generations are challenging tired state media by
writing online about politics, sex, drugs, relationships, religion,
popular culture and Brad Pitt. From female Egyptian activists opposed
to female circumcision to outspoken, pro-Western women in Cuba, people
are being empowered by new technology to create spaces away from the
prying eyes of meddling authorities.
My book, The Blogging
Revolution, is more conversation than definitive statement. As Western
media struggles to adapt to a web future - ironically enough, sales of
print media are rising in many non-Western states - it is vital to
examine the shifting relationship between reader and writer and
journalist and consumer.
In the non-Western world, however, as I
extensively examine in the book, expectations towards transparency and
democracy are different and necessarily so. Blogs are one way to gain
insights into these worlds, away from our current obsession with
"terrorism."
Antony Loewenstein's The Blogging Revolution (MUP
2008) is out now.