Sandy Burton Honoured •MSF

MAY/JUNE 2005

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS’ CLUB, HONG KONG THECORRESPONDENT

THENTHEandN NOWNOW VIETNAM 30 YEARS AFTER THE FALL OF SAIGON

• Sandy Burton Honoured • MSF: An Unusual Life Media

PR platitudes. By recognising mis- The Democratisation of takes and sharing lessons learned, blogs put a human face on the compa- ny and deepen relationships with cus- tomers and partners. This openness INFORMATION does have limits, however. Earlier this year, the word “dooced” was coined to The process started with Gutenberg, whose printing press describe the act of being fired for blog- put the Bible into the hands of the common man, and ging about your job. Sites such as Instapundit (www. continued when cable TV ended the era of big-network instapundit.com), which combine original commentary with links to other dominance. Today, the democratisation of information has blogs and news stories in the conven- reached a new level, with the growing popularity of the tional media, are another departure from the blog-as-diary model. Run by web log, or blog, argues Chris Dillon. Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee, Instapundit logs first appeared in the late bloggers and over 3,000 IBM employ- is one of the most popular sites in the 1990s as on-line journals where ees now maintain blogs on topics blogosphere, receiving over 120,000 Bpeople posted entries about ranging from autonomic computing to visits each day. their experiences, opinions or hob- software architecture. Boeing, General Instapundit brings an element of bies. Initially, this required some pro- Motors, Google, HP, Sun Microsystems serendipity to its readers by linking to gramming skills, but as easy-to-use and Yahoo! all publish blogs, and con- less well-known sites run by people software and cheap broadband access sultants now offer guidance to CEOs with special expertise. Vice Squad became available, blogging entered who want to join the blogosphere. (http://vicesquad.blogspot.com), a the mainstream. The emergence of corporate blog- blog published by a group of Chicago Today, there are millions of blogs ging surprised many people, because academics with an interest in pub- devoted to everything from aboriginal the speed and spontaneity of blog- lic policy on alcohol, tobacco, drugs, art to zoo-keeping. And while the ging challenges the traditional com- prostitution, gambling and pornogra- United States is home to the largest mand-and-control model of corpo- phy is one such site. The Volokh Con- number of blogs and English remains rate communications. However, many spiracy (http://volokh.com), founded the dominant language, blogging is organisations have found that this by UCLA Law School Professor Eugene rapidly becoming a global phenom- risk is offset by the ability of blogs to Volokh – an authority on free speech enon. Directory site Blogwise (www. rapidly disseminate information and law, copyright law, the law of govern- blogwise.com) lists blogs in 186 coun- gather feedback. And because blogs ment and religion – is another. tries, including more than 100 in Hong bypass intermediaries like media out- Instapundit also highlights emerg- Kong and over 220 in China. Some lets and market research firms, they ing issues that have caught the atten- estimates put the number of blogs in allow companies to interact directly tion of left-leaning bloggers includ- China at over a million. with their audiences. ing Eschaton (http://atrios.blogspot. Like everything else on the Inter- Blogs also promote openness. Com- com) and the Daily Kos (http://www. net, blogs vary wildly in quality. Some panies have discovered that audiences dailykos.com) or their right-of-centre are so mawkish they would make an ignore – or worse, ridicule – blogs that peers Little Green Footballs (http:// angst-ridden teenager blush, while are sanitised by lawyers or filled with www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog) others are so extreme they would test the conviction of the most ardent free-speech advocate. Many simply fade away as the author loses interest. But there have been some interesting and unexpected developments. The rise of corporate blogs is one. Technology companies are in the forefront of the corporate blogging movement. Microsoft’s Robert Scoble (http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/) www.instapundit.com www.rogerlsimon.com is among the best-known corporate

14 THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2005 or Power Line (http://www.powerline- Incidents like these and blog- Singapore government agency threat- blog.com) as these stories make their gers’ enthusiasm for chasing down ened to sue him for defamation. way into the mainstream media. and critiquing stories in the main- A*STAR, an agency focusing on sci- For example, in 2002 Eschaton stream media have provoked animos- ence and research, withdrew its threat played a key role in publicising a speech ity between the two camps. Bloggers of legal action after Chen closed his by Republican Senator Trent Lott that have been called unprofessional, con- site and apologised for his remarks. endorsed the segregationist views of spiracy theorists and a lynch mob, In addition to making governments Senator Strom Thurmond. Continuing while bloggers accuse journalists of uncomfortable, some see citizen jour- coverage by Eschaton, Instapundit and incompetence, arrogance and liberal nalists as a challenge to global news- others kept the story alive until it was (or alternatively, conservative) bias. agency giants such as Reuters, the Asso- picked up by the Washington Post and ciated Press and AFP. Los Angeles-based New York Times. This sparked dozens hings have become more com- blogger and author Roger L. Simon of other articles and op-ed pieces call- plex as the line between blog- (http://www.rogerlsimon.com) has sug- ing for Lott’s resignation, which he Tgers and journalists begins to gested that, in addition to providing tendered on December 20. blur. Several mainly conservative a fresh perspective on events in the Last autumn, a report on CBS’s newspaper columnists have taken up Middle East, citizen journalists could 60 Minutes II alleged U.S. President blogging and in March, Garrett Graff displace foreign correspondents. Simon George W. Bush received preferen- became the first blogger to receive believes that bloggers’ superior local tial treatment when he served in the a White House press pass. Bloggers knowledge, language skills and ability Texas Air National Guard in the 1970s. have also begun posting first-hand to operate without guides or interpret- The claim was based on what the TV accounts of unfolding events, in what ers gives them a tremendous advantage network said were newly uncovered has been dubbed the Citizen Journal- over foreign correspondents. National Guard memos. Within hours ist movement. Blogs such as Iraq the Liveblogging – posting commen- of the broadcast, posts appeared on Model (http://iraqthemodel.blogspot. tary on a blog while an event is occur- Power Line and Little Green Footballs com) and Hammorabi (http://ham- ring – is also blurring the distinction stating that the memos were forgeries. morabi.blogspot.com) have been well between journalist and blogger. Events Typography experts soon proved the received in the West, where people ranging from the Academy Awards memos could not be genuine because have been hungry for news about Iraq to President Bush’s last State of the they had been produced using Micro- since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Union Address have been liveblogged, soft Word. Ultimately, blog coverage Blogging is also taking off in Iran, a trend that is fuelled by increasingly resulted in the resignation of veteran with sites such as Iran Focus (http:// ubiquitous wireless networks, mobile news anchor Dan Rather. www.iranfocus.com) and Regime phone technology and bloggers’ desire More recently, Captain’s Quarters Change Iran (http://regimechangei- to test the limits of a new medium. (http://www.captainsquartersblog. ran.blogspot.com) covering develop- Organisations are also experi- com), a site run by a Minnesota- ments in that country. This coverage menting with liveblogging as a way of based call-centre manager, sparked has not been welcomed by the Iranian publicising their activities. an uproar in Canada by leaking the authorities, which recently sentenced In official blog coverage (http:// proceedings of an inquiry into alleged blogger Arash Cigarchi to a 14-year www.forumblog.org/blog/2005/01/do_ misdeeds by the governing Liberal prison term for expressing his opin- us_troops_ta.html) of a World Eco- Party. The blogger’s reports, which ions on the Internet. nomic Forum session in January, CNN circumvented a nationwide publica- Closer to home, Chen Jiahao, a 23- chief news executive Eason Jordan, tion ban, may yet result in early par- year-old Singaporean student living “asserted that he knew of 12 journal- liamentary elections in Canada. in the U.S., shut down his blog after a ists who had not only been killed by U.S. troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted.” Forum participants and bloggers quickly demanded that Jordan substantiate his claims. On February 11, CNN announced Jordan’s resignation citing concerns that his remarks “threatened to tarnish the network he helped build.” So will blogs put the mainstream media out of business? Probably not. While they offer a growing volume www.vicesquad.blogspot.com www.iranfocus.com of original reportage, the bulk of the

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2005 15 Media

news found on blogs continues to come from the mainstream media. And despite fabricated quotes, plagia- rism and other scandals that have hit some of the world’s largest media out- lets, these companies still command levels of trust and brand recognition that blogs can only dream about. Then there is the question of money. Advertising and reader con- tributions provide some revenue, but the vast majority of blogs are labours of love, not businesses. Steady, sus- tainable revenues may eventually come from initiatives like Pajama Media Partners (which is developing an ad network for Internet advertis- ers, feeds blog content to mainstream media and the public, and is developing systems to help the public find blog content) but this is still some way off. In the meantime, blogs will be constrained by the reality that, as a wise person once noted, “Opinions are free, but facts cost money.” Rather than spelling the end of the mainstream media, blogs are more likely to be a complementary source of information, much as cable TV programmes supplement those on network television. Blogs also have a valuable role to play as a watchdog, scrutinising coverage in the media. These functions are likely to expand, as podcasting, photoblogging, videob- logging and other multimedia tech- niques become more common. One thing is certain, however. As technology becomes even more A Protracted Farewell powerful, the cost of data storage continues to plummet and wireless erhaps the most surprising aspect was to stop lamenting the heinous networks proliferate, the blog genie is Pof the recent series of commiser- crimes of the past and to enjoy the unlikely to climb quietly back into its ations over the death of the Far East- friendships of the present. bottle. ern Economic Review was that it was Could it be that the Review was remarkably civilised. Indeed, shout- mellowing just as it died? Was its Chris Dillon is the principal of Dil- ing matches were rare, sordid gossip cult status as the seat of ferocious lon Communications Ltd. He doesn’t was kept to a minimum and blatant intelligence and vitriolic political publish a blog, but he does like to read hostility largely kept under wraps. incorrectness at last on the wane? them. He cites Jazz great Thelonius Monk (Well, a senior Dow Jones editor Or was everyone just a little bit as saying: “Writing about jazz is like was asked how he had the “unmiti- tired and emotional as the days and dancing about architecture.” Magazine gated temerity” to attend the Wake, nights wore on? articles about blogging are equally awk- but hey, let’s be nice!) Certainly the schedule was gruel- ward. For an online version of this story, Warm fuzzy feelings spread ling for those who stayed the course. with hyperlinks to the each of the blogs across three days and nights of Many former staffers and contrib- mentioned in the text, visit the Dillon convivial drinking (and eating), and utors to the once great magazine Communications site at www.dilloncom- it seemed the widespread desire pitched up at the Club on Friday, munications.com.

16 THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2005