Periodismo ciudadano en su máxima expresión

el caso de la bloguera cubana, Yoani Sánchez y su bitácora, Generación Y

Abstract

In recent years blogs have positioned themselves as an important tool for
public communications, capable of impacting, influencing and transforming
popular culture. Some scholars consider Internet’s traditional functioning
model where one could clearly differentiate among content providers and
users, to have been transformed, and nowadays, this distance has been
significantly reduced. One of the factors that has produced this shift has
been first of all, the World Wide Web, and secondly, the increasing
popularity of the blogosphere. Both platforms represent forums where
citizen collaboration and participation is encouraged. In this analysis we will
focus on the power of blogs, considered to be the medium with the greatest
growth in the history of mass communication. We will use Yoani Sanchez
and her blog, Generacion Y as a case study to show how these versatile
platforms of personal expression- in this case in opposition to the Castro
regime- has turned into an important element of the alternative blogosphere,
not only in her native country, but mostly abroad. According to Sanchez, “I
form part of a phenomenon in an embryonic stage that is able to transform
into an alternative force for the official Cuban media”"1. The socio-political
context of Cuban in which Generacion Y comes into play is particularly
interesting because of the fact it has been able to withstand even while
confronting two major obstacles: the incredibly low connectivity rate that
Cuban citizens face, as well as censorship and punishment on behalf of the
Castro government. Generacion Y, therefore, represents more than a space
within the alternative Cuban blogosphere. As winner of numerous prizes
and distinctions- among them the prestigious Ortega y Gasset Prize for
Digital Journalism in 2008- this blog is an example of freedom of speech
and digital citizen journalism in which the author has been able to express
her social uncertainties by using this powerful technological tool in order to
capture the reality surrounding her, as well as impacting, influencing and
marking a milestone for cyberculture and the future of mass media in Cuba
and the rest of the world.