Gulf bloggers see web as an 'open forum'

After a slow start, blogging is on the rise in the Gulf region as thousands of online diarists turn to the web as a more open forum compared with the mainstream media.

Last year, the Columbia Journalism Review reported that blogging in the Middle East has been growing at a slow pace because only 10 per cent of the Arab world has internet access.

"Most analysts and bloggers put the number of Arab bloggers at fewer than 25,000. Of those, a majority blog in Arabic," the report said.

But Samer Marzouq of casualPR, a Jordan-based agency that focuses on blogs and user-generated media, said blogging is now becoming more popular because it allows users to express themselves with more freedom.

In his blog (jazarah.net), Marzouq quotes a report on the Egyptian blogosphere that states that a total of 160,000 blogs were hosted in April 2008 by various service providers such as Maktoob and Blogspot.

And a search of the UAE Community Blog (uaecommunity.blogspot.com) shows that there are now hundreds of web diarists in the UAE, writing on everything from the Burj Dubai to current affairs and censorship.

"The UAE is an advanced country in the Arab world in as far as the online sector is concerned. People use the internet to do various transactions but its blogging scene is the weakest so far in the region," Marzouq said.

But Alexander McNabb, who has his own blog at fakeplasticsouks.blogspot.com, says there is a growing community of UAE bloggers that use the media to both communicate and to inform.

Blogs and social networking sites across the Gulf region are actively monitored by the authorities, who often block sites that go against certain cultural and social beliefs.

"Some bloggers have been jailed, mainly in Saudi Arabia and Egypt," Marzouq said.

The question remains, though, will the Arab blogosphere continue to expand amid the challenges that bloggers face?

One answer could come from Bahrain, where bloggers – steadfast in their social commitment as online communicators – plan to sign a code of honour that will unite them against discrimination.