Assignment #1

To blog or not to blog?  Technology has affected the way we function since the invention of the wheel but now more than ever an atypical revolution is taking place, one that does not call for rioting on the streets or setting cars on fire but for frequent information logging and rather succinct prose: blogging. Blogging has become the weapon or poison of choice for many people who are not only unsatisfied with the coverage, or lack thereof, that the mainstream media gives to issues affecting their lives, but who are also pleased to have found perhaps their only legitimate source of freedom. For Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez her blog Generacion Y does both.

A Citizen Journalist, Yoani Sanchez dedicates the majority of her blog posts to the domestic and international political events that are affecting Cuba. After being shut out of the intellectual polemic that took place in Cuba two years ago, philologist Yoani Sanchez became a renegade by way of blogger and has since managed to garner followers from all over the world. Focusing on Cuba's present reality and the discontents of her generation, she documents, among other things, her frustrations and questions about the country's current state.

The advantages that this unusual medium provides are anonymity, speed, simplicity, two way communication, cyber-continuity, and cost effectiveness. Blogs allow the bloggers to conceal their identity for safety reasons, for example, and to have the information be available as soon as it is done; the set up of a blog is also relatively easy when compared to the burdens of the printed word, and most of all, blogs allow the reader to not only ask question but also receive answers. The internet is a tool that also keeps the information online for unlimited time and space, meaning that the material can gather attention from the international community at various stages. Last but certainly not least, blogs are inexpensive, which means that just about anybody can make one.

Although Yoani is one of the few Cuban bloggers who doesn't resort to hiding her identity, she takes as much advantage as she can of all the possibilities the blogosphere has to offer. As a first-hand reporter she writes about the particular events that she goes through and as described by author Jill Walker Rettberg, Yoani is also a gatewatcher since she links other stories and videos related to her areas of interest. Her blog is raided by the Cuban government and she has recently become the victim of persecution. Without ever mentioning the word 'democracy', Mrs. Sanchez gives her testimony on issues that the government won't allow the mass media to report on. And the buzz that her somewhat irreverent blog has caused has even gotten the attention of President Obama. Clearly she is unto something.

Alas, not everything that shines is gold. Major setbacks of blogs are that the bloggers themselves, unlike professional journalists, are most likely bound to be subjective which leads to their credibility being questioned. On the same note, authenticity can be faked and the lack of official training can mean, as Andrew Sullivan suggests, that readers may know more than the bloggers themselves. In the case of Yoani Sanchez, it can be problematic to solely rely on her blog for information about Cuba because of how subjective it is. Lacking the resources that a journalist may have, it is also difficult for her to infiltrate the civic localities where the action is taking place. The bottom line is whether the information being reported is mainly based upon facts instead of opinions and when it comes to Citizen Journalists that line may get much too blurry for most people's comfort. In the end the real question readers should ask themselves, it seems, is to believe or not to believe?