I think that the new media is a form of power to the people. The people have the rights to proclaim their opinions, in this context, through internet blogging. Besides the government controlled media, the people can then analyse the situation better with different sources of information and other people’s point of views. It promotes the freedom of speech in a country, with popular blogs criticizing and challenging ideas established by the mainstream press. Blogging is one form of way to express one’s ideas and include factual information to assist readers in judging for themselves whether the government is right. Also, the politicians can take this opportunity to understand how the people feels and what they can improve on, taking it as a form of positive feedback and thus take the people’s opinions into account.

However, when carried too far, this may also be a sort of problem, with the people misusing the new media, leading to media wars, for example as stated in the text. Terrorists can attack and stir up mixed feelings among people to create discord. This may be a damaging consequence if not handled properly. The new media poses a threat as it allows them to freely spam, corrupting the public’s mind.

Hence, some countries have adopted the “censorship” approach to omit any offensive and untrue articles, to uphold political stability. Many continents are doing this, by censoring websites, blocking emails and persecuting and imprisoning bloggers. They try to filter the internet, and go through any extreme measures to deter bloggers who blog irresponsibly and criticise the government openly.

I do not agree to this, as the new media is a tool, of the new age, for the people to effectively offer their opinions and truthfully express how they feel, be it a positive or negative output. On and all, the government should respect and not disregard the public’s viewpoint.