The 21st century,which belongs to the world of advanced technology that requires only few seconds and you are able to communicate to someone at the other end of the world.That's the power of the computers and telecommunication with the help of the satellites that transfers these messages. So, how is this powerful instrumnts doing harm to the majority of mankind when they are unvented with the primarily purpose of making our lives more convenient?
From the article taken from Worldpress.org dated 6 June 2006, blog, a phenomenon that caught the world by surprise , is now the choice for many to air their views on issues that are happening around them through portals such as "MSN Spaces", Microsoft's free blogging platforms. It has been observed that more than 75 000 new blogs are created everyday.
Blogs, gave people the opportunities to develop media careers and even allowed some to compete with professionals in their respective fields of work from around the world and shapes the global media agenda in the recent years as seen from the U.S led invasion of Iraq and the Asian tsunami that contributed to the stories with the help of home video footages that showed the first hand footages of the people present at the scene at that point of time when it happened.Furthermore, sometimes they are even faster than the press as the reporters required time to arrive at the place to collect information which help in the speed of aid dispatched to the affected area in times of trouble such as natural disasters or man-made accidents.
However,there are also the people that abuses the use of this international communication portal to spread terror . One good example will be the terrorists that plan and design atention-grabbing atacks through the use of all means of communications to intimidate the people and impose fear into them.They also play pranks to confuse teh governments with the actual attacks with the help of video clips and warning messages posted on the internet or sent to the news stations to keep the security communities on high alert or even confusion among the people and the restlessness and tension in the society.
Therefore,to prevent these doings of the terrorists,governments of certain countries are closing down websites,especially blogs that contain opinions that are against them and jailing the people that expressed them.In turn of that,it has caused quite a uproar in opposition to their actions where about 20 000 people supported The Observer and Amnesty International campaign to end repression on the Internet. (adopted from The Observer,June 4) Censoring freedom of speech on the internet will mean a lost channel for the government to know the opinions of the poeple and whether the policies they have implemented are working effectively for the people in the good way in this era as claimed by Hossein Derakhshan, an Iranian now living in Canada, whose blog Hoder.com has been censored in Iran.
After much opposition,the censorship of the internet has been liften by a little as some countries are beginning to allow certain grace towards blogging and one such country will be Pakistan.
In conclusion,the media is a good place for sharing informations and airing of personal opinions which are rarely possible with the never-ending tension of terrorist attacks still lingering around. I believe that so long as the bloggers respect this medium of communication and uses it effectively in the correct way,the governments will understand and may even join in the blogging world.
