Much is written about conventional media vs blogging. As if somehow there is an intrinsic quality difference; only people paid vast sums of money can write well. Others, obviously because they’re not fully paid up hacks only ‘vanity publish’. Somehow the voice of a blogger is less than the voice of a writer for the Sun, or the Daily Express or whatever. In terms of coverage (the quantitative aspect) - yes; even the most well read blogs don’t have the huge power and the loud voice of the daily papers. In terms of telling the truth of a situation, well, the blogsphere is increasingly showing that this is where real journalistic standards can thrive.

It is impossible to break into the newspaper market without huge financial resources. I don’t know how much it would cost to establish a daily newspaper; but a sum way beyond the means of the vast majority of people. Over 40% of newspapers in the UK are owned by Murdoch.

However, anyone with access to a computer and a very small set of technical skills can broadcast to the world. You might think that 99% of blogs are rubbish; you might think 80% are rubbish. But actually when you think about it, 99% of newspaper and tv output is pretty dire - (particularly when you include the 999 channels of garbage that Sky TV puts out - I’m beginning to think that if it’s really true that people will watch anything then evening TV should be made up of Ingmar Bergen films and Wagner’s complete Ring Cycle).

The mainstream media is so narrow as well. The same tiny group of celebrities and journalists dominate the creation of news and what the news is about. But having wealth and power are not the same as having integrity, principles, ethical and moral values.

Take the case of the yet another Russian billionaire with a murky past, step forward Alisher Usmanov.

There’s a very interesting story about his relationship with the media in this weeks Private Eye.

Tim Ireland, who’s blog has been closed down by Usmanov’s lawyers (as has Craig Murray’s), has revealed that nine UK journalists were flown out to Moscow and wined and dined at Usmanov’s expense. That only one journalist bothered to reveal this - Charlie Sale of the Daily Mail. The rest apparantly just filed glowing accounts. Is if of no interest to the British public where Usmanov’s money came from? Is it of no consequence to the moral atmosphere and ethical culture of what we describe as a liberal society? While the conventional media seems remarkably slow on asking the right questions, the blogsphere has bothered to ask questions and faced an unpleasant censorship as a result. Does money now threaten our freedom of speech?

Well thankfully there are still some people in the UK, not corrupted or frightened or licking the arses of plutocrats and oligarchs. Step forward Chicken Yoghurt.

Just type in ‘Alisher Usmanov’ into a blog search engine - the cat’s out of the bag. His lawyers might be able to close down individual blogs by putting pressure on the internet service providers; but this is a bit like trying to put a finger in a sieve; you can block one hole, but not the hundreds of others. And I can’t help feeling the more he tries to silence his critics, the more people are going to publish the allegations. I don’t think he or his advisors understand how strongly people support free speech in these matters.

And at some point hopefully he will have to go to court. And what then? So far, blogs have been closed down without any court hearings (and the entire blog taken down, not just one story). Eventually that is going to change and he will have to take the witness box.

Roll on that day.