Bloggo (Wo)Man

Got an email from a journalist writing for the Malta Independent asking for a comment about the Maltese blogosphere. It's the second invitation of this kind in a couple of weeks. Apparently the Maltese print media have become aware of this fairly 'recent' phenomenon and they got interested in the subject. Fair enough, especially when the print media in Malta is usually more absorbed in what the minister said, and hung up about Chiara's outfit.

In the email I got this morning the journalist asked me to comment about the bloggers' 'revolution'. Well, to be honest I do not regard the Maltese blogosphere to be some kind of revolution. I think this term is over used and abused. Certainly, as I have commented elsewhere (I'm too lazy to find the link), blogging does give you the freedom to air your views without any fear of being censored. At least so far, for the recent case of Bahraini bloggers should be constantly kept in mind.

However, I think that the proliferation of Maltese blogs is more proof of a trend than a revolution. It has become trendy to keep a blog. I don't see anything wrong in that, so much so that I've been blogging for almost two years now, also because the Maltese print medium is tightly controlled by the political parties or the Church or very conservative institutions, and it seems that the possibility to change this situation is very remote. The case is even worse for those who would want to write in Maltese. So indeed blogs have given many the opportunity to scribble their thoughts which otherwise would have never seen the light of day.

But blogs remain mostly a personal venture, something you do when you feel like, if you feel like and how you feel like. There is no discipline in it. Despite the freedom my blog gives me I still feel the need to have a space (in print or digital) where a collective alternative is put forward. I know that there is such a thing being planned Hopefully this initiative will be launched in the near future.