But, But…: Part 2
Perhaps I wrote prematurely last night about the state of blogs and the mainstream media when it came to foreign reporting. Observe: the BBC is carrying a relatively long article reviewing Zimbabwean bloggers’ reactions to the elections there.
This is the first time I’ve seen the BBC News site - rather than their own bloggers - do this, on anything. There are, as far as I can tell, a few possible implications. Either:
- That this is a specific response to the situation in Zimbabwe. Western journalists find it very difficult to get visas in Zimbabwe. The BBC has thus been forced to resort to re-using large chunks of information from Zimbabwean bloggers. This is the nearest equivalent they can find to their usual trick of going out to talk to people on the streets, and doesn’t mark much of a change in attitudes to the internet.
- That this demonstrates that the BBC feel the bloggers have something at least as intelligent as their reporters to say, and should be listened to. This could mark an increasing respect for the blogosphere as an organ of debate, and be a sign of its further growth.
- That this demonstrates that the BBC feels the bloggers are genuinely representative of something and need an article for the sake of decent reportage. Again, this would mark progress for the blogosphere, I suspect.
Of course, a combination of any of these three is possible, and probably more besides. It’ll be interesting to see if the BBC runs any similar articles in the future, supporting my second and third possibilities, or not, probably supporting the first.
Or, of course, I could just have missed stuff on the BBC website, I suppose. Time for a dig - but if not, an interesting occurance…
I hate to suggest such things, but I do wonder just how many people in Zimbabwe have access to an adequate level of skill and knowledge to run a blog. Surely there is some kind of natural bias?
True - but then again, it’s probably the closest the BBC are going to get in this instance, no?