HERE’S an interesting entry from my erstwhile fellow CNET Asia tech blogger (before I gave up the gig to concentrate on managing INQUIRER.net’s blog network and my other responsibilities as gaming and multimedia editor) Ignatius Javellana, who wrote about the news coverage of the Glorietta 2 blast by both mainstream media and citizen journalists.

Excerpt:

It’s this type of speed and efficiency that frightens me. For one thing, back in the day, when events such as these would occur, it would take a while for actual coverage of the event to even reach those who would probably be only a few blocks away. Take the first EDSA Revolution back in 1986—I was still a kid then but it took hours for people to mobilize, and for the news to reach us. But when it happened again in 2001, within minutes I received an SMS and Inquirer.net (then Inq7.net) already had it on their headline. Because technology affords us this speed and efficiency—wireless connectivity, portable digital cameras, 3G cellphones and more—any newsworthy event can be broadcast in seconds.

And because of the growing popularity of blogging among Filipinos, news of this latest terrible event spread like wildfire. Already within an hour there were hundreds of blogs writing about the explosion, all with their own speculations and theories as to what happened. Hundreds of photos of the carnage were being sent over email, posted on photo blogs. And even better, actual, first-hand accounts of the incident began to spring up—from people who were right there when it happened to people who knew other people that were there even to people at the emergency room of the Makati Medical Center where most of the victims of the explosion were brought. And to think this happened during the afternoon, during a time when loads of people are still online, getting updates from friends’ and friends of friends’ blogs.

My friend Azrael was one such person. Within an hour of the explosion, he was watching the news and already posting images he’d taken from ANC on his blog. An hour after that, another guy on Multiply started talking about his first hand experience of the explosion, even posting images he’d taken himself while he was there.

Indeed, news travels with blinding speed in the age of online media and citizen journalism — and so does fear.

The Chinese have a curse: May you live in interesting times. We’re living in that kind of world right now.

APART from blog entries and photos of the Glorietta 2 blast, citizen journalists have also uploaded video clips to sites such as YouTube.

Here are two such clips from a concerned citizen that Tonyo Cruz uploaded to YouTube — thanks to Tonyo for the heads up.

Here’s the first clip.

And here’s the second clip.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

THE “LIKELY bomb” blast that has rocked the Glorietta 2 Mall is now reverberating in the Philippine blogosphere, with bloggers even posting photos from the blast site.

One such site is the Disney Cute Land blog on Multiply, which has several photos already uploaded.

User disneycute wrote:

Very tragic day….I was 40m away when it happened….Thank God for Ice Cream for it wasn’t for it…..You know what I mean….I decided to buy one when I was coming back to Park Square 2 walkway….P***shet nanginginig pa din ako hanggang ngyon kasi i saw debris falling down when it exploded and people were screaming and running coming out of the smoke……I dunno how many were killed….

Here’s the link to one of the photos he posted.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

MSNBC.COM has made its first acquisition in its 11 years of existence, shelling out an undisclosed amount to purchase citizen journalism/participatory news site Newsvine.

Here’s an excerpt from the Computerworld article:

Mike Davidson, CEO and co-founder of Newsvine, noted that the deal will allow more people to contribute to the site and helps “further the cause” of citizen journalism.

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I STUMBLED upon this from another blog. It’s called Pinoyblogopedia. It’s an attempt to create a wiki for the Philippines blogopshere. It does not contain much right now. It currently contains a list of some blogs, and a brief introduction about this effort.

Wikis about the Philippines now exist. Recently, Wikipilipinas was created by people behind Filipiniana.net.

I’VE recently picked up the book “The Long Tail” by Chris Anderson. It talks about the impact of the Internet on our culture and economy and how it has created more choices (niches) for consumers. But this concept does not only apply to commerce but other aspects of society, including journalism.

This brings me Abe Olandres’ blog entry which I recently read, “Why I’m Into Open Source Consulting?”

It’s an interesting take on the state of the Philippine blogosphere, and how discussions (especially controversial ones) could spark greater discussions and some form of journalism.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

SO, is the youth wing of Malaysia’s ruling party really speaking for the youth when it urged the government to regulate bloggers?

Here’s an excerpt from the Agence France-Presse story:

KUALA LUMPUR–The influential youth wing of Malaysia’s ruling UMNO political party is pressing for “regulatory control” over Internet bloggers following two widely publicized cases, state media reported.

The proposal was made by United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) youth chief Hishamuddin Tun Hussein, Bernama news agency said late Saturday.

“UMNO Youth warns that freedom has its limits and we will not tolerate those who touch on the issue of national stability, harmony, cultural values and the personality of national leaders,” Hishamuddin said.

PROVING that citizen journalism is coming of age, NowPublic has received a major boost — namely $10.6 million in financing.

Here’s an excerpt from the Agence France-Presse article.

The financing is led by Rho Ventures in the United States and Canada.

Uses for the money will include ways to reward people that upload stories or images, and developing a system to “geo-locate” contributors so they can be found if they are in range of developments deemed newsworthy.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

SOME Filipino bloggers did not mince words, as they blogged about the recent State of the Nation Address of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Former journalist Anton DeLeon’s Slap Happy was not very happy about Arroyo’s speech. He writes:

Things are not definitely getting better. Seriously, if things were booming and zooming and talk of all this economic activity was real then i wouldn’t be holed up here in Dubai, of all places, if the prospects of all economic progress are pointing to the Philippines.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

THIS news item attests to the power of citizen journalism in circumventing censorship laws that might shackle mainstream media.

BEIJING–In the strictly controlled media world of communist China, “citizen journalism” is beating a way through censorship, breaking taboos and offering a pressure valve for social tensions.

In one striking example this month, the Internet was largely responsible for breaking open a slave scandal in two Chinese provinces that some local authorities had been complicit in.

A letter posted on the Internet by 400 parents of children working as slaves in brickyards was the trigger for the national press to finally report on the scandal that some rights groups say had been going on for years.