Blogging: An alternative voice for countries which pursuing for freedom of speech?

Blogging has been increasingly popular for the whole universe, especially for some countries which has little freedom of expression such as Iran, Cuba, China and even Malaysia. They start to find ways to pursue greater freedom of speech in hope to bring about a liberal or democratic and even transformation. This is where they found their way, the web which itself gives them a voice. Although governments of these countries may suppress dissent, they are craving for open democratic system through communicating amongst each other and outside world by using the social power of internet, especially Chinese people (Davies 2008). Thus, alternative voices as refer to blogging can survive in today’s world. This is especially true in country where people don’t have the freedom to voice up due to the regulations of the government. Issues such as political is especially sensitive where people are bind to certain regulations which eventually lead to the popular of blogging. Furthermore, online media actually has widen the range of the news and commentary(Kenyon 2010)

During the Iranian election, journalists have banned to publish sensitive issue about political in Facebook, Twitter and other popular website. In order to participate in commentary critical of the regime, those disenfranchised Iranis then use blogosphere to express themselves (Sussman 2009).

In some countries, news media is restricted in publishing on controversial issues especially political, economy and ethnic politics. There is host of laws that restrict speech in terms of official secrets, sedition, and politics and so on. This contributes as one of the important factor in these countries’ media where domestic commentators are restricted in discussing about certain issues compare to international democratic standards including Malaysia. Online communication then provides the platform where independent speech is allow, people then find that online media can be less limited (Kenyon 2010). For instance, Malaysiakini and Harakah served as alternative media practitioners in Malaysia. Blogging in Malaysia then has the potential to serve as a democratizing force by facilitating the sharing of ideas, information and perspectives (Smeltzer 2008).

According to George (2007) , blogging actually helps people to voice up in Malaysia; especially for those issues that publishing in mainstream are impossible. Thus, internet viewed as the only mass communication medium where there is no system of prior restraint. People then create websites, blogs where they can publish what they want as there is no license required for groups or individuals.

Reference list

Davies, A 2008, The blogging revolution, The media report, viewed 3 June 2010, < http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2351985.htm >

Sussman, M 2009, “Day5: twitter, global impact and the future of blogging” viewed 10 April 2010, < http://technorati.com/blogging/article/day-5-twitter-global-impact-and/page-2/>

Kenyon, AT 2010, “Investigating chilling effects: News media and public speech in Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia”, International journal of communication, Vol. 4, pp. 440-467.

George, C 2007, “Media in Malaysia: Zone of contention”, Journal of democratization, Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 893-910.

Smeltzer, SC 2008, “Blogging in Malaysia: Hope for a new democratic technology?”, Journal of international communication, Vol.14, No. 1, pp. 28-45.