November 2007 Archives

AMERICAN journalists have recently launched a project called "beatblog ging." It involves at least 13 media organizations covering different beats , like science, technology, gaming and music, among others. This experiment inv olves reporters building their own "social networks" around their beats. It wil l use blogs as means to create this network. David Cohn of Wired's Li stening Post and a participant in this project, writes:

This experiment is taking place in 13 news rooms across the country . Each will be tackling the project from a different angle and as a result, the will come across unique obstacles.

This blog will collect lessons and mistakes they learn along the wa y. That will include methods they use to redefine their relationship with sourc es and new tools they implement to construct new forms of communication. The ho pe is that by the end of this project, other reporters can learn from what we'v e done and begin beat blogging themselves. While the 13 reporters who are highlighted directly to the right of this post a re at center stage of this blog, we will also find and interview leading thinke rs and journalists who are already out there doing this type of reporting on th eir own and tool makers who can offer us insight into how their web application s can benefit journalism by creating new online communities.

Jay Rosen explains that beatblogging is a simple experiment that hopes to test a simple idea: "Maybe a beat reporter could do a way better j ob if there was a 'live' social network connected to the beat, made up of peopl e who know the territory the beat covers, and want the reporting on that beat t o be better." Cohn and Rosen's idea involves tapping the network of sources beat repoters col lect over the years. Personally, this idea is not new. As the proponents of thi s project say, beat reporters had been doing some form of "crowd sourcing" as t hey write stories. But they hope to take this to the next level, wherein source s, reporters, and the community at large can all contribute to and collaborate on the writing of the news. It's a radical shift in the idea of doing journalis m since the news agenda could be dictated by no less than the people these repo rters write about. Let's keep a close watch on how this experiment will turn out. Good luck, guys.

A CERTAIN Teo Marasigan in a blog entry titled Kapirasong Kritika, has sparked a dis cussion on why Filipino activists should not blog. Pointing out that activists have failed to use the Internet to expose and denounce the dominant "reactionar y" ideas in the Internet, Marasigan has suggested that activists-bloggers shoul d stop blogging. His post eventually elicited reactions from some progressive blogs, including < a href="http://mongpalatino.motime.com/post/684612/Blogismo" target="_blank">Mo ngster's Nest by Mong Palatino and Reds Care. Writing in Filipino, Marasigan argued that the Filipino Internet activists have somehow failed to also state the reactionary character of the Internet. "Kailangang mulat tayong tayo ang gumagamit sa Internet, o sa teknolohiya sa pa ngkalahatan. Dahil kung hindi, tayo ang magagamit nito. May progresibong gamit ang Internet; pero nangingibabaw ang konserbatibo, reaksiyunaryo, o tahasang de kadenteng gamit nito. Hindi ako sang-ayon na palaganapin ng mga progresibo ang pagba-blog. Maglako tayo ng progresibong mensahe, hindi ng midyum lamang na bag amat tila walang pulitika ay dominado sa aktuwal ng mga kalaban ng pulitika ng pagbabago," Marasigan wrote. Postcard Headlines provides this rough translation: "The Internet is us eful for progressives; but this usefulness is significantly outstripped by its conservative, reactionary, and decadent quality⦠Let us encourage a progressiv e message, not a medium that may look apolitical in the surface but is in reali ty dominated by the enemies of the politics of change. Or so, it says." Marasigan argued further that it was not a common practice among progressives t o expose the dominant characteristics of the Internet. He said the Internet is rotten and is overflowing with reactionary, conservativ e, and decadent ideas, desires, and pleasures. Marasigan observed that its widespread use of the Internet in the Philippines t oday is mainly for Internet gaming, pornography, and online dating networks. Th ese activities divert the attention, time, strength, and intelligence of many a way from the real situation and struggles of the people, he added. He also believes that the Internet is a realm of struggle but progressives are disadvantaged in it. "Yes, members of the petty bourgeoisie class are important to the politics of c hange because they easily grasp and employ progressive ideas. Yes, the thinking section of this class is in the blogosphere. But they are vacillating and the forces that lead them away from revolution are dominant in the Internet," Postc ard Headlines translates and quotes Marasigan's entry. Palatino disagreed. "As an activist, I have been promoting the use of blogs among my friends (inclu ding Teo) because I saw the potential of blogging to be an effective medium to broadcast our advocacies. The revolution will take place outside the internet c afe shops but there is a revolutionary task to perform in the cyberspace," Pala tino wrote. Palatino also stressed that blogging is a form of a political statement. "It affirms that everyone has the right to publish his/her opinion in the inter net. It empowers ordinary citizens to articulate what they feel is relevant to their lives. A person can start to blog about his cat or crush but sooner or la ter he/she will have to write some political if not subversive commentaries," h e added. Palatino also stressed that the young progressive bloggers have not abandoned t he "petty bourgeoisie to the venomous claws of the powerful imperialists." "We always persevere. We always struggle," he said. Reds Care, meanwhile, debunked Marasigan's idea, suggesting that the Internet a nd technology in general has allowed even leftist groups to send messages out t o a wider audience. "Isang malaking pagkakamali kung gayon na manawagan kung gayon na bitiwan ng m ga rebolusyonaryo at progresibo ang internet. (It is a mistake to ask the revol utionaries and activists to ignore the Internet)," Reds Care said. Palatino added, "Reading Teo's article reminds me of the debate whether blogger s should be recognized as journalists. For a long time, journalists have looked down on blogging as pseudo-journalism and a threat to their profession. After some time, many journalists have begun to appreciate the various uses of bloggi ng."