After the 2006 military coup and media censorship, various blogs sprung claiming to contain the truth about what was really happening in Fiji
Some "popular blogs" which sprung up are Coup four and a half, Intelligentsiya, Fiji today, Discombobulated bubu and Fiji democracy now among others. These blogs paste stories from mainstream sources then give their opinion on them, anonymously of course. Most of these blogs urge the people of Fiji to take action against the army via riots, protests and other forms of violence.
Discombobulated bubu, for example, posts things like Fiji's MR has been and Wrapped up and doomed which are not only opinion based hate posts but also promote racism at the highest level. These blogs claim to provide the real news but rather post their opinions without balance or verification.
Blogs also seem to be losing their "popularity" from 2009. In 2007 Fiji had over 800,000 people living here. These blogs don't even get comments which reach three figures let alone come close to that number.
As you can see from the above figure, both Discombobulated bubu and Intelligentsiya have zero comments and this goes for most of their recent posts. People seem to be reverting back to the mainstream media despite the censorship.
The most popular blog Coup four and a half is the only blog with regular comments on its posts, however they usually fail to reach triple digits. Out of the 800, 000 plus people in Fiji, very few actually partake in the blogs, this is not including people who post comments with multiple accounts, hide IP addresses and live overseas with knowledge of what is happening in Fiji. Despite various pleas on these blogs for action, majority of the population of Fiji seem content with simply going about their business.
The latest article on Coup four and a half is about Justice Daniel Gounder heading to Sydney. It makes a lot of allegations against Goundar and other judges.
Another huge problem with blogs like these is that they are run anonymously which means nobody can really take them seriously unless they post hard evidence which they have so far failed to do. Did great civil rights freedom activists like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi hide behind anonymity? Their legacy speaks for itself, they were not cowards afraid of punishment, making accusation behind the veil of anonymity.
Blogs in fact can be very useful if done correctly. Many blogs in the USA and other countries have uncovered real stories of corruption. Most people in those countries also had access to the internet where as in Fiji only a minority of the population do so. It will be a long time before blogs in Fiji get what it takes to compete with the mainstream media.
Discombobulated bubu, for example, posts things like Fiji's MR has been and Wrapped up and doomed which are not only opinion based hate posts but also promote racism at the highest level. These blogs claim to provide the real news but rather post their opinions without balance or verification.
Blogs also seem to be losing their "popularity" from 2009. In 2007 Fiji had over 800,000 people living here. These blogs don't even get comments which reach three figures let alone come close to that number.
 |
The most popular blog Coup four and a half is the only blog with regular comments on its posts, however they usually fail to reach triple digits. Out of the 800, 000 plus people in Fiji, very few actually partake in the blogs, this is not including people who post comments with multiple accounts, hide IP addresses and live overseas with knowledge of what is happening in Fiji. Despite various pleas on these blogs for action, majority of the population of Fiji seem content with simply going about their business.
The latest article on Coup four and a half is about Justice Daniel Gounder heading to Sydney. It makes a lot of allegations against Goundar and other judges.
Officially, he is on study leave but reliable insiders say he fell foul of the regime after the illegal PM's office recieved two sworn affidavits from FICAC offers saying he was constantly in touch with FICAC prosecutor, George Langman, and FICAC consultant, Nazhat Shameem.Coup four and a half always has "sources' and make allegations. But the fact that they were made originally against the regime and repeatedly calls them illegal makes them a biased source of information. There is no way of verifying any of these sources and no balance at all as justice Goudar was never once interview for his say by coup four and a half.
Another huge problem with blogs like these is that they are run anonymously which means nobody can really take them seriously unless they post hard evidence which they have so far failed to do. Did great civil rights freedom activists like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi hide behind anonymity? Their legacy speaks for itself, they were not cowards afraid of punishment, making accusation behind the veil of anonymity.
Blogs in fact can be very useful if done correctly. Many blogs in the USA and other countries have uncovered real stories of corruption. Most people in those countries also had access to the internet where as in Fiji only a minority of the population do so. It will be a long time before blogs in Fiji get what it takes to compete with the mainstream media.
7 comments:
i found this both interesting and informative
Problem with blogs anywhere is they love to jump on popular bandwagons in order to get page views, which seem ta be more of a priority than researching and verifying information. Fiji Water and the military administration are popular soft targets, hence bashing them is a common tactic,often accompanied by claims that majority of our population is dying of thirst because Fiji water stole all of the groundwater. Of course this problem is compounded when some lazy journalist (sorry Arnold :p) cites them as a source, and the article gets cited as a source by the blogger, and we get a circular argument which leads nowhere
After reading this, the only real thing I can say on the topic of Blogging in Fiji is
"you pretty much nailed it"
Blogging here is still premature, with lack of sufficient evidence, Clearly biased objectives (that don't even TRY to cover it up and at least PRETEND to be neutral), and worst of all, insufficient public awareness to be considered worthwhile.
Not much else needed to be said.
Nice to see you doing well in your assignments. How's your sculpturing hobby going?
Just in case anyone is mistaken this isn't a story this is a blogging assignment where you give your opinion and provide links :P
Interesting and informative yes, but it did not fulfil the requirements of the assignment. That was to link to a news story and to give your opinion on it. I think you mean "sprung up." Why do you put quote marks around words that are not quotes? The screen grab is unreadable. You need to crop it using Photoshop.
Are blogs really the best way to get our information? How credible is the source? Most of these blogs, as you say, are posted anonymously. It is sad to see that some people believe it and pass judgment and sometimes even start a whole debate on the issue. If the information given in these blogs is true, wouldn’t the mainstream media report on it? People fail to understand that these are just the views of the people posting it behind anonymity and don’t want to have their names known because they are just scared of the criticism they would get on the credibility of the content. Most of their sources are also anonymous. Who are these people that get the inside information? If what they give to the authors of these blogs is accurate, then they should have the guts to let other people know who they are rather then hiding behind anonymity.
Post a Comment