A very interesting discussion ensued from Day 1 of the Panos South Asia multimedia workshop and that concerned blogging. Many from mainstream media opposed blogs as an "inferior form of journalism". This is a completely expected reaction. There is a real and present threat to mainstream media from so-called "wanna-be journalists" aka bloggers.
This resulted in some animated exchanges from those with non-traditional media backgrounds. Question is, are blogs a part of media? Should views have to be vetted by an editoral process in order to be credible? Are bloggers rabble rousers? Are journalists the only source of authentic news and information? And what constitutes a "journalist"? Someone with a degress in mass comm?
This discussion was interesting enough to be continued long after the close of the day's session. It fact, it was debated at the local fast-food outlet.
Ironically, the writing on the wall read: "Please do not write anything on the wall" Surrounding this plea was a wall full of graffitti. Isn't that what this debate all about? Keep off you "non-journalists". But we just won't go away will we! That's the power of free speech and true voices from the grassroots.
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