The Power of the Blog

A long, long time in a galaxy very familiar to us there was a medium of news source known as the newspaper. I know that sounds like a silly concept, but it's true. Before the internet phenomenon blew up in the world's proverbial face, newspapers and the television seemed to take in the majority of the audiences looking for news.

Come 1999 a new source of information was beginning to gain steam. The internet began this form of weblogging, later to be known as blogging.It's influence over the years has been ever increasing. Back in 2002 Senator Lott was exposed for his remarks regarding the late Senator Thurmond, which was thanks to the blog, Josh Marshall's talkingpointsmemo.com. So to see CNN come under fire in the past year as well as Dan Rather before, it is not as surprising. The internet's power has grown over the years as more people are able to access it.

Think about it: to read the newspaper one would have to pay for a weekly subscription, or wait weeks for the edition to show up at a local library. The television news requires you to have a television as well as pay for local cable. In order to get the internet you can just go to your local internet cafe or library to receive free viewing. This easy access allows for a larger group of individuals to comment about many different topics.

Though like any news source you must be weary. Since anyone can access the blogs, the same goes for who can create them, anyone. One should be careful who one reads then. On any site you can find the typical "troll". A "troll" is someone who is purely out looking to make an enemy on the internet. Most of their pleasure lies within them seeing someone overact to a post, etc. Certain blogs are owned by corporations, so their information may be skewed in order to favor that corporation or ones they are associated with. Political blogs must be viewed with a keen eye as well. Watch for organizations that run blogs which are trying to favor certain candidates and politicians. Like any piece of news, these sites have ways of finding out who they are owned by and operated by. Being a smart viewer will allow you to find the vast amount of sources out there for your viewing pleasure!