Cast your vote with your comment and we will see if there is a KO or victory to the points

It seems to me that many media biases in most European (Union) countries are topical and not necessarily a fundamental flaw. Internet rights is a topic that not only in Spain but also elsewhere has become an issue neglected by polities and media alike, and several blogospheres have risen magnificently to the occasion.

One of the main reasons for such an active EU-Geekosphere certainly is the total absence of European media and a predominant national bias in most European reporting in existing media.

And yes, using freedom of expression to fill the gaps caused by lack of a real participatory democracy, both on EU and European level as well as national and local level is definitely a strong motivator!

“You have a point to make, fine – make it; and right you are. No reason to get grumpy or aggressive though, is there?”

Didn’t mean to be aggressive or grumpy but surprised. very. Just so that you can picture it: if I had to say this to you F2F I wouldn’t be frowning but raising eyebrows and shaking head…Just to give it a non-verbal cue this sort of communication lacks. I hope it’s clearer now.

“And if you must identify logical fallacies of other people, don’t make your own either – “Don’t know about rest of european countries…” and “I’m sure same thing applies to rest of countries.” do not go well together.”

Granted.

You see, this topic is raised at a moment in which Spanish blogosphere is being especially active about our own internet rights towards a very biased media/government…so it’s kind of funny to hear that comparison bw US/Europe on the lack of media bias (and yes I’ve lived in the US).

What proves that what’s happening in the different European blogospheres can be easily reached but probably not understood bcs of the language barrier (and I still think that it’s an eurocrat u.to.pi.a to expect everyone will blog in English…you might end up missing great and/or important bloggers just bcs of that)

And nope, I think the reason why millions of blogs are out there is precisely because of the AWARENESS of an existing media bias…and the lack of a real participatory democracy. Therefore, I’m sorry but I still don’t buy the ‘absence of media bias or absence of awareness of media bias’

I still think the European blogosphere is there and it’s up to us to discover it.

And somehow comparisons to US scenario are ill-based to start with: it’s one big but one country after all. We are not.

Cheers.

And yes, I would argue that whatever bias media has in most European countries is still pretty far away from the twisted world of manipulation the US has to offer.

On a more general note, I find it a little much from you to stomp around here saying “So please, next time, back up arguments with some evidence.” Nicole gave an interview of a few minutes, how would you back up any claim in that format?

You have a point to make, fine – make it; and right you are. No reason to get grumpy or aggressive though, is there?

And if you must identify logical fallacies of other people, don’t make your own either – “Don’t know about rest of european countries…” and “I’m sure same thing applies to rest of countries.” do not go well together.

I wrote a post about Nicole Simon’s article here: http://joelitobarski.com/opinion/european-blogosphere/

And an online meet-up of European bloggers (many European politics bloggers – but all are welcome) will be held on December 3rd at 20:00 GMT on Skype.

Details are here: http://joelitobarski.com/news/euroblog-meetup-details/

Haha: there’s no media bias????????
Please please.
Let’s not support our case with generalization fallacies. Don’t know about rest of european countries…though news are ruled by transnational news agencies, but in Spain, at least, yes there’s a strong media bias and that’s why people jumped onto blogging, and that’s why some journalists left their posts to kick off their own digital media, which at the same time failed, because of lack of funding, wrong approach, paid content, etc…and because you can read the news filtered by the people you follow on twitter, blogs etc.
That’s why main newspapers are extremely worried about their demise and TV/Radio channels are always putting internet as evil. Now backed up by governmental decision of officially surveilling internet. Right now, the hottest topic on Spanish blogosphere is a new Manifesto in defense of the rights of people with internet…And that manifesto was only possible to the existence of a HUGE resilient Spanish speaking blogosphere.

Media bias? All newspapers and tv/radio stations in Spain are controlled by big media corp who are the loudspeakers of main political parties here. So please, next time, back up arguments with some evidence. And I’m sure same thing applies to rest of countries. Or you really think there’s no media bias in yours?

Problem is the lack of a common language. And that affects not only the blogosphere evolves but everything else related to the European sentiment. There are many other things, as important or more, we still have to agree upon or standardize..

PLus I do think there’s a European blogosphere: get each “”"local”"” blogosphere and sum them up.

Then it’s up to you to discover them or not.

And then the language again is an issue. But don’t expect or pretend that all ppl will blog in just one language. You blog bcs you want, not bcs of rules someone else sets for you. Besides, that will create (as is right now) an elitist divide bw those who can (blog in English) and those who can’t or won’t.

Cheers.

But this prevalence of English creates a language divide that impedes access to the knolewdge and discussions for the the majority of the population in non-native English speaking countries. Most people don’t have enough speak-write English skills to understand what’s going on and even less to participate in it. This is a dis-balance that biases the whole conversation. It gives an unfair advantage to native speakers (although a lot fare bad in their own languages) and also tends to have a majority of topics and views of interest to them.

The advantage of our English speaking is that we are contributing to the development of the language, which in this case can be called Pan-European English, where idioms and words from all around Europe are enriching it. Languages belong to those that use them.

My experience with Esperanto goes along the lines of what Steve Kaufmann has said. It is a fairy tale theory. I much prefer to use English.