Though MAHADERANG MATAPOBRE SA OFWS is one of the first blogs (now with over 1,400 comments) to post on Malu Fernandez last August 8, it was Nick’s blog that called for action. I read Nick’s entry on Malu Fernandez at around 10:00 p.m. of August 16. I commented “I will see what I can do.”
It seemed like a formidable task. Should I blog about it? I hemmed and hawed. It doesn’t seem to belong to my niche. While thinking of a strategy, I thought of the Twitter. I sent this Twitter message because I knew around 100 followers would read it right away.
Jeric and Benj were one of the first to comment on Nick’s call to action against the Malu Fernandez article.
Ederic soon posted:
Pero ngayong gabi, muntik na yata akong ma-highblood. Kasi naman, si Noemi, nag-twit ng ““Boycott Manila Standard. [tag]Malu Fernandez[/tag] reminds me of someone.” Na-curious tuloy ako kaya pinuntahan ko ang link na kasama ng twit niya.
Napadpad ako sa Tingog.com, naintindihan ko ang twit ni Noemi, bumilis ang tibok ng puso ko at medyo nanikip ang dibdib ko.
I showed Cathy and Lorna my blog entry and without hesitation contacted their journalist friends.
And who knows what happened next?
Annalyn remarked that if there’s one thing that the Malu Fernandez issue has taught us, it is the viral capability of blogs and assorted online media, to make things happen.
Even if Nick’s tingog.com is a relatively new blog, his call to action echoed throughout the blogosphere. Tingog is the Visayan word for Voice. Yes, at the start it was a tiny voice. Not many journalists picked up the story until it blew into wide-scale proportions. Or until the time that Malu Fernandez apologized and resigned.
Do not underestimate the power of the blog even if the blog is relatively new.
Because of the Malu Fernandez issue, no one can deny the growing popularity and influence of blogs as a source of information and opinion. Name-calling such as Litson , biatch piggy wannabee etc. is not part of this information. Maybe it is high time to start discussing ethical standards, not as a way stifling the free spirits online, but in order to provide guideposts of conduct and morality in the wild-west landscape of cyberspace.
