Hyde Park Corner

René Worni on the new broad impact of the bloggosphereEs isch e Ploog. In Swiss German, blog and plague go hand in hand. And blogging, i.e. the writing of Internet diaries, has become epidemic in view of the millions of weblogs worldwide. A plague? Theoretically, anyone can now lean out of their garret window with a few regularly typed lines and hope for an echo in the diffuse public sphere of the Internet. However, if you believe Berlin's best-known blogger Johnny Haeusler (Spreeblick), very few people actually know what a blog is. Blogs haven't really caught on with passive readers yet. Blogs are mainly read by other bloggers and journalists. And without the traditional media, there would probably only be a fifth of all weblogs, estimates Katharina Borchert (Lyssas Lounge). But the blogosphere is changing, even if not in the way imagined by enterprising spin doctors who hardly make any money with unpopular corporate blogs. Even if not in the way that sworn and above all young blog anarchists would like. Because now politicians have discovered blogging. The media are already offering support as traditional gatekeepers and inventing hybrid forms. The NZZ, for example, has opened the floodgates for the Zurich cantonal parties (nzzvotum.ch). Anyone who wants to join the Zurich cantonal government is exposed to a bean-counting, analyzing crowd of commentators. The Neue Luzerner Zeitung is also focusing on a reader-supported election campaign with a citizens' forum, and if you look to France, Royale contre Sarkozy is mainly taking place on the web. Dream ratings, such as those the media minister is currently achieving with his Leuenberger blog (Hillary Clinton is leading the way), are the exception. But that's not really sexy, because blogs have anarchic roots, thrive on the need to communicate and multi-layered authenticity, and are sometimes motivated by crises and catastrophes. Young people in particular want to have their say in an unfiltered way, whose views have not previously been widely publicized. After all, trendy Moritz is the best advertisement for this virtual Hyde Park Corner.
René Worni, Editor