Blogging and freedom of speech

Image Source: Free Speech Cartoon

Journalist and author Antony Loewenstein discusses in the Blogging Revolution book review interview the issue of the freedom of speech in relation to blogging, especially in countries of a repressive regime like China, Iraq and Egypt. However with modern technology and the emergence of the blogging movement, those citizens are able to express their freedom of speech.

In China, many of the greatest increasing penetration of the web in China are actually in rural areas. Web courses are also held to allow people to articulate previously taboo subjects such as corruption. As for Iraq and Egypt, their massive government support allows the Internet to exist even in the poorest communities as a way to try and build economic development (Loewenstein 2007).

But does blogging really pave the way for a wider allowance of freedom of speech?

“It is our belief that censoring this content is contrary to a service that bases itself on freedom of expression.”
Blog host Blogger 2009

Image Source: kowsar

First we have to probe a little deeper into what blogging is and what it provides for the masses.

The Internet and the blogging service is available to almost anyone with access to the Internet, and can be you, me or even the sitting beside you, regardless of age, gender and culture.

Many people blog because of the advantages such as earning money through blog advertising like popular Singaporean blogger Xiaxue who is paid up to SG$500 an hour for blogging (from advertisements placed in her blog and paid reviews)!

The most popular form of blogging is personal and diary-like (Wikipedia 2009), but when a particular blogger blogs issues that surpasses sensitive political and racial issues, it is when most trouble comes a-knocking.

Image Source: Free Speech Cartoon

Are all citizens guaranteed full freedom of speech?

In Malaysia, there have been several cases where bloggers were put in the media limelight for alleged controversial issues. In 2007, Raja Petra Kamarudin was interrogated by police for allegedly insulting the King, degrading Islam and inciting ethnic hatred and violence on alternative media site Malaysia Today.

Also in the same year, Namewee did a rap version of the national anthem, criticizing Malaysian government policies and the Malay community. Both bloggers were not formally charged as the police could not find any legal terms that affirm their doings as against the law (Reporters Without Borders 2008).

Bloggers have freedom of expression based on Article 10 of the country’s constitution (Harr 2008), and although there is the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Internet is technically a free and non-restrictive platform for expression. It is also sometimes used to counter the distortions of mainstream media used by government to propagate their ideas (Nain 2007).

And although Habermas’ theory of the public sphere describes it as an area for people to gather and freely discuss and identify societal problems, and then influence political action, netizens’ self integrity would be relied on to consider Web ethics when posting something on the Net.

References
Blogger 2009, Blogger Content Policy, viewed November 15 2009, http://www.blogger.com/content.g

Habermas, J. 1989, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Cambridge Massachusetts.

Harr, H. 2008, 'Tongue-tied tiger', Amnesty International, vol. 6, pp. 1-8.

Loewenstein, A. 2007, The Blogging Revolution, Media Report, viewed November 15 2009, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2351985.htm

Nain, Z. 2007, ‘Blogging the bullies and bullying the bloggers’, Malaysian Today, 16 November.

Ng, L.F. 200, 'Namewee: I'm no traitor', Malaysia Kini, viewed November 15 2009, http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/106134

Reporters Without Borders 2008, Leading blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin released, viewed November 15 2009, http://www.ifex.org/malaysia/2008/11
/07/leading_blogger_raja_petra_kamaruddin/

Wikipedia 2009, Blog, viewed November 10 2009, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog