Countries use censorship for many reasons. They include reducing dissent and containing moral values. Especially on the internet, where moderation is not global and present, the images and content can be seen as a detriment to society. Murray (2006) states that countries are willing to control and regulate the internet to protect the countries ‘common’ values. Examples of these countries like China and Vietnam use the internet crackdown to protect its state interests. Other countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran control the internet for their religious ideals (Coz 2008). The controls are in place due to the otherworldly nature of the internet.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
On Censorship
Countries use censorship for many reasons. They include reducing dissent and containing moral values. Especially on the internet, where moderation is not global and present, the images and content can be seen as a detriment to society. Murray (2006) states that countries are willing to control and regulate the internet to protect the countries ‘common’ values. Examples of these countries like China and Vietnam use the internet crackdown to protect its state interests. Other countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran control the internet for their religious ideals (Coz 2008). The controls are in place due to the otherworldly nature of the internet.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
What is citizen journalism?
Citizen journalism can take many different forms. The term broken down signifies the creation of news by the majority; each citizen becoming a journalist. So the term encompasses all forms of journalism. Whether it is by video, podcast or the written word- citizen journalism is an amalgam of many different methods but only one common feature: the regular person creating the news.
But what is a regular person?
A person who is independant from any news connection. Citizen journalisms strength comes from their separation from the source of news. Due to the seperation what we are left with is less reliable (to an extent) and unedited news. Its raw nature is its strength and weakness. It does lose credibility but in turn casts a light on stories that could or would not be told. This information will come as opinionated blogs and local news stories. This varied opinion will reach alot of people due to the high saturation of the internet. There is no shortage of people willing to tell their story. The cheap nature of hosting a blog and the sporadic nature of the internet allows a high rate of hits on any one site and therefore an easy spread of ideas.
- While not perfect, it is a beginning of the true news watchdog, your information guarded by your peers.
References.
http://www.ireporter.org/2007/05/what_is_citizen.htm
http://blogs.theage.com.au/media/archives/2006/10/citizen_journal.htmll
Thursday, March 5, 2009
New NEWS!
New feeds thingie added. Probably will start the class content soon... like last minute.