Blogs are vital alternative media sources

February 26, 2006

By Caroline Kay

Published: February 25 2006 02:00 | Last updated: February 25 2006 02:00

From Ms Caroline Kay.

Sir, Your article on blogs bears no resemblance whatever to the world

I see when I go online ( " Time for the last post " , FT Weekend, February

18/19).

I have never visited a gossip blog at all. The blogs I visit are those

whose contributors are lawyers, economists and other academics,

political strategists, media people of various sorts and ordinary

citizens representative of many other occupations.

Some of these people write well and some do not but the ones I read

consistently have ideas that are worth thinking about - ideas that

never would have seen the light of day if we were only allowed to read

what the US corporate media have dished up for our entertainment.

No human can possibly absorb all the informational and

disinformational material available to us now.

There is a huge advantage in having many eyeballs patrolling the

sources of information, many minds with many varieties of experience

free to express their thoughts in an open forum - discussion that is

not chosen and/or edited by people whose living may depend on not

offending the powerful.

Maybe since your reporter works for a non-American newspaper he is not

familiar with how our media kowtow to powerful people, refusing to

call them on their obvious lies and hypocrisies.

If we did not have blogs, we might never know about the latest

assaults on truth, and we certainly would not know the details. We

assuredly would not have the audio and video evidence.

None of us individually would have the resources to dig up the stories

and the quotes from the past that often totally debunk what's being

said currently.

Carolyn Kay,

Chicago, IL 60605, US

Recommended Posts