One thing we've been discussing in class is how the 24-hour news cycle aims for instant gratification and takes reporters' time away from focusing on the big picture by teasing out overarching themes about subjects in the news. The Guardian's "newsblog" counters that notion this week with a post headlined, "Back to the future in Sudan." In thirteen brief paragraphs, the piece recalls Sudan's colonialist past, contrasting Winston Churchills 1898 reconquest of Sudan following a victory in Omdurman with Tony Blair's visit to Khartoum in 2004, "worrying about Darfur." The blogger notes, "Memories of his visit elicit wry smiles from local Sudanese," who "bear few overt grudges about the colonial period. They worry more about what they see as present-day imperialism directed from Washington."
The blog has a few lovely, detailed paragraphs describing the landscape surrounding Khartoum that are the express benefit of the blogger's writing from their in a dispatch style. However, the blogger does not define clearly what he means by "the threats the country faces from new forms of colonialism;" instead, these threats seem to take the form of modernization and globalization that leave all kinds of abandoned waste and vehicles despoiling the natural landscape.
The Guardian has about 28 blogs, an astounding number to be run by one mainstream media outlet. They cover a variety of topics, and the scopes range from the narrow "blogging the qur'an" to the grab-bag "newsblog." Since the newspaper's website has the capacity to publish breaking news, the blogs seem to serve as a way to comment upon news stories or introduce stories that don't have a place in the traditional, printed edition agenda.
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