1. DIGITAL LIBERTIES FOR A FREE SOCIETY
22 February, 2009, Kathmandu, Nepal
Hobby & Profession
Reporting Online
By Ujjwal Acharya
MyRepublica.com

2.  Blogs as hobby
 What is blogging?
 How to create blog?
 Why blog?
 How to run a successful blog?
 Portals as profession
 News writing versus blog writing
 Online journalism versus citizen journalism
 Things that helps in online reporting
 Rights and responsibilities
 Privacy and anonymity

3.  NepalCricket.com (www.cricket.com.np)
 United We Blog! (www.blog.com.np)
 Radio Free Nepal (freenepal.blogspot.com)
 Nepali Voices (www.nepalivoices.com)
 Republica (www.myrepublica.com)
 Tarun Weekly
 Nepal Samacharpatra
 The Kathmandu Post

4.  Generally,
 A blog is a personal website containing mostly
personal posts (that may be news/feeling/views);
regularly updated; in a form of a diary (most
recent item at the top of the page) that is usually
created and maintained by a single person
 Blogs are created using specially designed
interactive tools – such as WordPress

5.  Easy setup
 Setting a blog takes 5 minutes
 As easy as emailing people
 Quick publication
 If you have written something, YOU can
immediately publish it for the world to read
 No screening
 No editing

6.  Personal medium
 It’s personal - you are in charge of everything
 No worries about how good is your views or
writing or language
 Interactive
 Your readers can comment on it that appears
immediately below the your post

7.  Free blogs
 Wordpress.com Xanga.com
 Blogger.com Blog.com
 Own Domain
 Domain (.np is completely free) / webhost
 Tools
▪ Wordpress.org (database required)
▪ FlatPress.org (flat text file, no database required)

8.  Personal satisfaction
 Watchdog of the media
 Freedom of expression
 Fight censorship
 Promote business
 Create dialogue space
 Earn fame and money
 And, of course, create cyber identity!

9.  133 million blogs (13 crore blogs)
 900,000 blog posts per day
 8 % bloggers are 55+, 23% are 45+ years old
 34 % are females (27 % in Asia)
 13 % Asian blogs (N America 48, Europe 27)
 State of the blogosphere 2008, Technorati
 No of Nepali blogs: 718 indexed
 Bloggers.com.np

10.  Attractive ideas
 Consistent/contemporary writing and topics
 Modesty
 Write strongly (take you position) but be tolerant
to different ideas from you readers
 Use humble language (let your readers picture
you a gentleman/lady)
 Do not act KNOW-IT-ALL

11.  Conversation
 Invite people to discuss (ask suggestions)
 Always reply as soon as possible to comments
 Link
 Link other’s blog/site whenever possible
 Participate in other blog’s discussions
 First is best
 Write early, write regularly

12.  Be patient
 Blog does not bring you instant popularity
 Blog does not bring you a lot of money
 Blog is not easily recognized by others
 And most importantly,
 Luck
 “Risks are opportunities”
 “Bad news is good news”

13.  News Writing
 Structured
 Balanced
 Objective
 Meant to be screened/edited
 Blog Writing
 Free writing (your style, your structure)
 Subjective
 Meant to be published as it is

14.  Citizen journalism
 Citizen journalism, also known as public or
participatory journalism, is the act of non-
professionals "playing an active role in the process
of collecting, reporting, analyzing and
disseminating news and information.”
 Online journalism
 Journalistic activities to produce content that are
distributed via the internet.

15.  The intent of this participation is to provide
independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging
and relevant information that a democracy
requires.
 Alternative media (its not always possible for
mainstream media to cover all voices –
corporate interest/limited time and space)
 Feeling matters! (rather than facts)

16.  Internet skills
 Comfortable with internet and a little bit of
knowledge about it’s strengths / weaknesses
 Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)
 At least <strong>,<i>,<u>,<img>,<a>,<p>,<br>
 Upload
 You know what UPLOAD means!
 Images
 At least cropping, resizing and saving for web

17.  Video
 Recording (digital camera/mobile)
 Basic editing (Microsoft Movie Maker/Wax)
 Uploading (YouTube.com)
 Audio (for podcasting)
 Recording (mobile)
 Basic editing (Audacity)
 Uploading (OurMedia.org)

18.  Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007
 In Article 12 (Right to Freedom), Clause 3.a Freedom
of opinion and expression
 Provided that nothing in sub-clause (a) shall be
deemed to prevent the making of laws to impose
reasonable restrictions on any act which may
undermine the sovereignty and integrity of Nepal,
or which may jeopardize the harmonious relations
subsisting among the peoples of various castes,
tribes, religion or communities, or on any act of
defamation, contempt of court or incitement to an
offence; or on any act which may be contrary to
decent public behavior or morality.

19.  Such conditions can be exploited
 It’s not clear yet whether a journalist blogging
can be covered under journalistic rights for
something written on his/her blogs.
 No laws, rules or regulations for blogs.
 High Level Media Advice Council’s final report
reads: online media should not be bound
under legal registration process.
 Government provide press pass if a private
registered company owns the site/blog.

20.  All journalists ethics apply along with
following additions:
 Do not delete anything after it’s published.
 Refer any change/deletion/editing.
 If commentators wants to keep his/her
name/email/ip address private, let it be.
 And, of course, putting something public is not
like talking to a few of your friends, so be
responsible!

21.  There are many reasons to blog under your
real name, including credibility, honesty, and
reputation. But some people live in places
where what they write could threaten their
safety.
 Think about your position and what are you
writing about. It’s up to you to decide.
 Radio Free Nepal vs United We Blog!

22. ujjwal.acharya@gmail.com