The GoWEB ePress has officially been rebranded and relaunched as EPRESS BARBADOS. The renewed site will focus strictly on Barbados and will be originating articles as well. GoWEB is based in Barbados and we believe we are more able to give you a local service on ePress as this time.

However, we are already having discussions about opening separate ePress sites for different islands, which will be managed within the respective island. We are still committed to providing a groundbreaking regional service and as such, will be looking into various possibilities to give the region the best quality we can.

1. Integration With The GoWEB Toolbar: You can now get the latest ePress News stories directly from the GoWEB Toolbar. Just click on the “News” button and you have ePress News at your fingertips, along with the other options previously available.
2. Story Submissions: Users can now submit their own news to ePress. You can either recommend a story you read online which you would like ePress to track, or you can submit your own news story altogehter. We will review the submission and let you know when it is published. Just go to “Submit News” in the main links.
3. The ePress Mailing List: You asked for it and it’s here. Users can now signup to receive the latest ePress News in their email. When we publish a new article or feature, you will be notified. We’ll send you a portion of the article with a link to read more if you wish.

This is an ititiative to help you take the news with you, get more involved in the news process and keep up-to-date with the latest. Remember, you can feel free at any time to make feature request of just give general feedback om ePress or any of GoWEB’s services.

For example, if you wanted to get all available views or info on the CL Financial bailout, instead of having to manuaally search for the articles at the various news websites, we will do the searching for you, and provide you with a single page, quoting and linking to all available articles on the issue. EPress also serves as a central point if you want to leave a comment on any or all of the articles on a particular topic.

Additionally, ePress gives you the latest headlines from various Caribbean news sources. Just look over to the far-right column for your headlines.

We hope that this new site will be helpful to you, and thank you for using GoWEB services.

http://www.gowebnow.net/epress/

(See that article here)

This got me into thinking about the many popular blogs in the Caribbean, some of which present themselves as alternatives to the print media. Is it accurate for these bloggers to be classified as journalists, and is the law obligated to treat them as such?

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary describes a Journalist as “the conductor of a public journal, or one whose business it to write for a public journal; an editorial or other professional writer for a periodical”. It also defines a Journalist as “one who keeps a journal or diary”.

There can be no doubt that a site such as Barbados Underground is a public journal, from which the word journalism comes. Some of the meanings of the word journal are:-

1. A daily record, as of occurrences, experiences, or observations:

2. A newspaper, esp. a daily one.

3. A periodical or magazine, esp. one published for a special group, learned society, or profession

4. A record, usually daily, of the proceedings and transactions of a legislative body, an organization, etc.

Barbados Underground is not a daily publication, but it is a periodical record of occurrences, experiences and observations.

The major difference is that Barbados Underground is a non-profit venture, but the dictionary definition never mentions profit.

As I write this very post, for my blog, I find my mind wandering across endless plains of wonder. “What am I actually doing?” I ask myself. “Am I writing an article, am I writing a blog or is there no distinction between the two?” I am furthermore forced to create various scenarios in my head, each leading to a host of new questions. “Should I hold myself up to the same quality standards I would expect from my newspaper?” and “If an anonymous source wanted me to publish information, would I be able to protect their identity under the law?”

These questions remain unanswered. As I pondered the nature of my own scripting, I noticed a change in the composition of this post. I cannot deny the fact that there is a difference in posture when you write, dependent upon your own interpretation of who you are. The way you would write in your personal journal defers from the way you would write an article intended for the public. Furthermore, your style of writing changes depending on whether or not you perceive yourself as a journalist, or just some guy with his own website. The truth is that we project what we are feeling when we write, and some of us don’t even know for sure what we are, or how we are perceived.

Most of the leading newspapers in the Caribbean have an online presence. (see list here) This means that there articles are published both physically and electronically. If a blog is not considered journalism, how come the internet version of a newspaper’s article is considered journalism? I put it to you that only major difference is that the writer of the newspaper articles believes with every fiber in his body that he is a journalist. Admittedly, he has the public that validate that belief, but in the absence of a clear, lawful definition, I propose that to be the attitude bloggers must adopt. We define who or what we are. If a few brave did not decide to define themselves as human beings, black people would still be slaves. Think about that.

Mario Herbert – Administrator of GoWEB Caribbean

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