Does blogging bring democracy

An interesting article in yesterday's Observer by Nick Cohen.

"Every now and again, an established journalist goes into print to rage against the bloggers. Our old role of gatekeepers who decided what news and opinions the public should hear is crumbling under pressure from the net. The loudest wails came after American bloggers tore into the political coverage of CBS during the 2004 presidential election campaign and exposed a tendentious documentary. Jonathan Klein, a former CBS News executive, snapped: 'You couldn't have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of checks and balances [at CBS] and a guy sitting in his living room in his pyjamas writing on the net."

He writes that blogging has not met its predictions of democratising political thought and most bloggers are simply writing personal diaries

"They write about their lives, what books they are reading and music they are listening to."

The article goes on to discuss the censorship of the Internet in countries such as Cuba and Saudi Arabia,and Cohen concludes with the following

Many in rich countries worry that the poorest who would benefit most from cheaper gas or bargains on eBay are the least likely to be have access to the net, and talk of the growing gap between the information-rich and information-poor. But there is also a global gap between information-rich and poor countries. Few foresaw it in the optimistic Nineties. The globalisation of the net was meant to challenge censorship and tyranny. That's not the way it turned out. Dictatorships are tenacious and are more than a match for the 'Pyjamahadeen'.
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