Blogging - opening up non-Western cultures?

An article by Antony Loewenstein in the Weekend Australian Review sectoin (23-24 August, pages 6-7) suggests that bloggers in non-Western societies are providing a more balanced view of their cultures than we in the West are used to hearing.
He found that, 'blogs offered a window into mainly middle-class segments of societies rarely examined by the West.' They helped to elucidate such issues as what does a Saudi Arabian male thinks about his country's adherence to Wahhabism, how the average China user copes with multi-national-assisted filtering, and what is Cuba's likely future after Fidel Castro.
He also found that most people in these countries didn't want revolution, they wanted gradual change (reform), and they were actually quite happy with the way their countries were heading.
Loewenstein has written a book, 'The Blogging Revolution', about to be published by Melbourne University Press.

Blogs - taking their place in the mainstream?

A recent article in the Australian Financial Review (Review section, pages 9-10, 29 August 08, 'Attention grabber with legal byte', by Andrew Keen) suggests that blogs are definitely taking their place in the mainstream world of journalism.
Keen discusses Ariana Huffington, a Greek-born American who in May 2005 launched the Huffington Post (HuffPost), a 'progressive news blog'. Contributors include Huffington's 'hand-picked network of celebrities and experts'. Most 'content is produced by unpaid contributors', many of them celebrities who gain by the exposure, so costs are low - there is a small number of paid staff, but nothing like the number employed by traditional news media. And these contributors' work is rarely edited - which saves on costs as well. Visits to the site are increasing, in comparison to traditional news media that aren't doing so well in the online world. But is it quality journalism?