BBC: Sweeping article about the impact of blogging in China and Iran. Also covers its use in politics and the impact of blogging on the media (Rathergate etc). It’s not all MSM vs the bloggers though:

James Connell, deputy technology editor of the International Herald Tribune, says: "I would encourage my traditional media colleagues to look upon blogs as a positive thing and not a negative thing.

"OK, a few people have been fired and blunders have been exposed, but this could have happened without blogging.

"Anything that makes debate more inclusive and more lively, and anything that makes it easier for the average person to say: ‘hey that’s not right’ to the entire world, is a positive thing."