Friday, May 27, 2005

Keeping the Word 'Blog' Out of the Toronto Star

A few days ago, I posted this, which linked to posting by a blogger tracking the story on alleged attempts to bribe opposition MPs.

If one reads the linked-to post, it contained an explicit allegation of a criminal attempt to bribe an MP by a highly placed official. The allegation appears to have been completely ignored.

What do we make of this? Does it mean that awareness of the blogosphere has not yet reached the loftiest political circles? Or, does it mean that the blogosphere is considered subatomic, irrelevant or dismissed as noise?

Or, does it mean, as I suspect, that there is a great fear of raising curiosity about the blogosphere, of giving it publicity, of creating greater awareness? And why might that be?

I hypothesize that the last thing the Liberals want is a big story splashed all over the Toronto Star that contains the word 'blog' a hundred times, or even worse, a URL. Therefore, even though a very public, very direct, unambiguous allegation of a criminal act has been published in a global forum, no action will be taken lest it bring the masses to the blogs, where they are encouraged to think for themselves in an environment where the spin of one individual carries as much weight as the spin of an entire government.