Before I rush off to sleep, very briefly…
The contrast between the treatment the Zimbabwean election has received in the mainstream print media and the blogosphere is, I think, somewhat enlightening.
Most of the mainstream media in Britain covered Zimbabwe in some level of detail. The BBC has reported it fairly prominently, even if the analysis leaves a lot to be desired. The (ex-)broadsheets and “serious” papers have had it over the front-pages, in the columns, even the glossy photo-reports occasionally. Political magazines have gone in at least as far, if not further - the Economist has, as discussed, run quite a bit on it.
The British and American blogosphere has, meanwhile, been pretty silent. Unless I’ve missed something, the most has essentially been, “Robert Mugabe is a bad person, boo-hiss.” There’s been little useful commentary or analysis, for which I’m forced to revert to print-media and their websites.
This, perhaps, highlights one of the areas where the mainstream media still retains a slight edge over bloggers. Newspapers, magazines and television stations hire reporters and analyists who research and focus on far-flung foreign affairs, and so who can write on them. It’s their job.
Bloggers, meanwhile, often have another job, and can be quite busy people outside of blogging. In general, their expertise will be domestic politics, which, entirely naturally, the focus on - at the expense of foreign affairs, which, however fascinating, need researched and read up on.
Ah, but, you might say, but - bloggers here do focus on British politics, yes - but bloggers in other countries will focus on their domestic politics, and so we’ll get coverage of domestic politics everywhere. And, to a point, that’s true. I’ve begun read a number of African blogs, for example, which I’ll link to when I’m next downstairs. Blogs are beginning to come through, even in the most repressive of societies - off the top of my head, Generacion Y does an excellent job of finding places to post in Cuba…
But there are limits, very big limits. Computer access is very limited - to most of the population, at least - in many countries still. Many bloggers abroad do suffer heavily from censorship and oppression. If nothing else, there is a language barrier - I have some French, but beyond that I’d struggle with a foreign language blog. And so on, and so on.
The mainstream media, meanwhile, is able to provide regular, relatively reliable coverage in a language I can understand. Thus, for the moment, it has the edge.
Matters are changing, and will continue to do so. As computer access world-wide improves, I expect more and more blogs will spring up all over the globe. Grassroots coverage will become truly global, and there’ll be an alternative to getting irritated at the editors of the Economist.
Until then, though, the editors of the Economist and their ilk have a distinct advantage, at least in certain areas of the globe. Until then…
