[UPDATE 5]
NTDV has finally picked up the story. Seems like NDTV will cover the issue on its 24X7 show later tonite. [Via] Sambhar Mafia. Adelphia wants your comments on what angles of the issue should be covered.

---

Stochastica recently raised an intresting issue: “Can bloggers shape opinions, or is it just a few thousand people deluding ourselves that we have more power than we actually do?”

Recent public events in India have been of keen interest to Indian blogosphere. First there was the Kushboo incident, then the Engineering college fiasco followed by the Chennai Club incident and now IIPM.

Do we as bloggers have the power to shape opinions, punish the bullies and get the truth out there? Or are we living in our own little world assuming that we are making a change, something that the outside world is not aware of ?

About a year ago, the US blog world was very active in the mainstream media. There was a memo released by a news station about Bush’s military service and someone figured out that it was a forged document. Soon others followed and the media picked up the story. In the end the document turned out to be forged. For weeks the media was talking about this story and the bloggers being a powerful tool. And recently, Apple decided to sue a blogger.

As far as the Indian bloggers go, I do know that the mainstream media has occasionally interviewed bloggers, some have their articles published in the newspapers (with the editors doing their little nip/tuck), but I am yet to come across a story that has been picked up by the media that gives credit to the bloggers. Most articles I have read talk about bloggers and blogging and not about our posts. We are yet to be taken seriously.

Understandably so. Journalists back home take their job very seriously, do their work and from my experience, do not take political sides. They do their homework, state facts and most times stick to the facts. But here in the US, more often than not, journalists take a side, they air their personal opinions. There is something different when CNN is referred to as a Democratic news channel and Fox is referred to as a Republican one. News my friends means Information about recent events or happenings. Information does not include personal opinion.

Just like the US media, We as bloggers, tend to add our opinions to facts, which is not real journalism ( I know we are not expected to be journalists). Even the best bloggers out there give their personal views, which in no way is wrong. We are like a magazine, our blogs are read for our commentary, not for ability to disclose or state new facts and this does not go down well with the Indian media.

Until we decide to separate fact from philosophy and opinion from observation, we might be the sharks, in the aquarium. It is not expected of us to keep our views to ourselves, but the lesser we do it, the more credible we become in the eyes of the hard working Indian media, the better our chance gets, to be heard by the rest of the country and that is when the real effect of so many voices can be seen and heard. Until then, let us keep up the good job we are doing.

[UPDATE 1]
A day after this post, two papers in India carried articles relating to the issue. While one (Hindustan Times ePaper) spoke about the grey legal area of the boggers the other (Mumbai Mirror), spoke about the fact that the IIPM issue was the hot topic among Indian bloggers. [via] Desipundit.com

I am still waiting for the Mainstream media to pick up the issue and give credit to the desi bloggers.

[UPDATE 2]
The Pioneer has an atricle(google cache) [via] http://desipundit.com

[UPDATE 3]
Ravi has a post detailing the contact information of major media outlets in India, if you want to take a stab, that is.

[UPDATE 4]
Mumbai Newsline picks up the issue and discusses the various angles. The article is titled Bloggers Join hands against B-School, so I guess we are on track.