First hand report: Blogging

Blogging, a fairly new and widely used form of communication. Jill Walker Rettberg book "Blogging", delves deep into the history and methods of blogs. Something that stood out to me was first-hand reports: Blogging from a war zone. This style of blogging illustrates a live point of view on current events and it can convey better accounts than the news.

The details he noted were of the sort that might be noted by a professional feature journalist, but the experience of hearing directly from a person who was there, involved in this horrible conflict, made reading the blog a far stronger experience than reading even an excellent article by a professional could be. Rettburg(2008)

This approach to blogging is intriguing to me because it presents a first hand report on a important event, unlike the news. These reports can keep the public up to date with something like the iraqi war zone as stated in the book. A first hand report can reveal key information that somtimes does not reach a community until a considerable time after the event occurs.
Communication plays a very meaningful role around the world. Without it families would be in the dark on anything that may cause danger to themselves or their property. I have personally experienced how unreliable a source like the news can be. It is filled with many third hand accounts of current and past events. Some live first hand accounts are covered, but they may not relate to anything that affects me. I agree with Rettburg on the subject of first-hand blogging. I think by following a first hand account rather than another source like the news, a person can aquire accurate information on current events.