COMMUNITY JOURNALISM

(MCM 531)
ASSIGNMENT NO: 01 (FALL 2014)
TOPIC: BLOGS
TOTAL MARKS: 15
DUE DATE: 02/12/2014

Blog is "Web log," a specialized site that allows an individual or group of individuals to share a
running log of events and personal insights with online audiences. Blogs use a conversational
style of documentation. Some blogs discuss personal experiences. Like an online dairy. The
blogging phenomenon is a grassroots movement that may sow the seeds for new forms of
journalism, public discourse, interactivity and online community.

Tasks:

Keeping in view the importance of Blogging, you are required to write a blog to highlight
the disasters of flood 2014 in Punjab and its rescue strategies in order to attain the
attention of higher authorities.
Do you think that Blogs are serving the purposes of articles and columns published in
newspapers? Support your opinion with comprehensive arguments.

Guidelines:
Components of Blogs:

Subject or Header: Subject or header is the blog's title.

Content or Body: The text is typed or pasted into the body.
Comments: The comment feature allows others to take part in a discussion regarding the
contents of your blog. When visitors add their own two cents regarding the subject
matter, a lively discussion can proceed. Many bloggers and blog readers appreciate the
sense of community blogs offer thanks to comments.
Time and Date Stamp: Because blogs are arranged in chronological order, it's important
for visitors to note the time and date of each post.

Before going towards the main topic of our assignment, let we first give a brief introduction
about blogging. Blogging is a website that contains online personal reflections, comments and
often hyperlinks provided by the writers. It is a regularly updated website or a web page; run by
an individual or small group that is written in an informal or controversial style. Blogging is very
popular today because it allows people to interact with each other. It has also become a popular
search engine tool because search engines like Google and Yahoo is frequently updated with
content or visitors comments. Thus, now days blogging has become one of an important online
tool.

Question No: 01
Keeping in view the importance of Blogging, you are required to write a blog to highlight the
disasters of flood 2014 in Punjab and its rescue strategies in order to attain the attention of higher
authorities.

Answer No: 01

Rescue relief continues in flood hit areas in Punjab.

Written by Nimra Tariq; Student Virtual University of Pakistan.
Posted on Nov 27, 2014 8:00 PM Khi/Pakistan.
In the first week of September 2014 heavy monsoon rains and floods in the catchment areas of
the eastern rivers of Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej and Jhelum resulted in flash floods that collapsed
homes in Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K). The recent floods that
have affected various parts of the country and that have caused heavy loss of human life,
property, damage to crops, roads and infrastructure. According to the latest figures, 367 persons
lost their lives, more than 2.5 million people were affected by the floods and rains and 129,880
houses were partially damaged or destroyed. Over 1 million acres of cropland and 250,000
farmers were affected in most cases resulting in the loss of standing food, fodder or cash crops.
Non-farm sources of livelihoods and services affected include many small enterprises,
manufacturing and processing business and loss of wage employment due to disruption of the
economy. The province of Punjab has been among the worst affected where the rain has
submerged villages and left thousands of people homeless.
In order to ensure timely response to the current flood situations in the country, all concerned
authorities and departments including National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA),
Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Armed Forces, Rescue 1122 and district
administration are working day and night to cope with this critical situation. In wake of
devastation caused by recent floods in Punjab; the rescue and efforts are continuing and in full
swing. The rescue and relief operations are underway in different areas of Punjab to shift people

to safer places. The military choppers, boats and rescue 1122 personnel are continuing flood
relief operation on round the clock basis. 19 helicopters and 574 boats are being deployed for
rescue operations in the flood hit areas. NDMA has so far provided 20,000 tents, 10,000 plastic
mats, 20,000 blankets, 471,000 aqua tablets, 30 mobile filtration plants, 31 boats and 100 life
jackets to Punjab. Also 3,000 tents, 1,000 blankets and 1,500 plastic mats have been provided to
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K). National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) at NMA is
monitoring flood situation round the clock and is in constant and regular coordination with
PDMA Punjab. Both federal and provincial governments are ensuring their best possible
measures to save life and property of people and to provide maximum relief.
In response to the recent floods that have affected various parts of Punjab along river Chenab and
river Jhelum, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan and that have seriously caused heavy loss to
human life, property, damage to crops, roads and infrastructure, the government has mobilized
all resources for efficient rescue and relief on ground. In order to ensure timely relief assistance
and to further gear up rescue and relief operation as per governments instructions, NDMA has
mobilized its relief stocks which are being provided to Punjab and Azad Jammu Kashmir.
NDMA teams are still in the field for monitoring and coordination with local administration to
supplement the relief efforts. NDMA is still engaged with all concern authorities to ensure timely
response to save the life and property of the people. NDMA and Pakistan Army is providing
every resource and coordinating rescue and relief operations with the PDMA to ensure maximum
life saving response. NDMA and PDMA has already speeded up its relief activities especially in
the more affected areas of Punjab.
The water is still over five to six meters high in many areas and floating rubbish and dead animal
bodies in the water are a major source of concern. Dirty and smelly water is a breeding ground
for mosquitoes, giving birth to the risk of malaria and other waterborne diseases. Punjab
government has declared emergency in 21 districts that are directly hit by the floods. Health
ministry has also declared emergency observing the threat of gastro, fever and skin diseases in
the flood hit areas. Hundreds of thousands of people are still in urgent need of food, temporary
shelters, medical services, mosquito nets and repellent, safe drinking water, hygiene promotions
interventions and household items. NDMA is in constant contact with concerned provincial and
district authorities of the flood affected areas to ensure timely coordination of all relief efforts.
PDMA have been providing with all kind of necessary assistance by NDMA.

Question No: 02
Do you think that Blogs are serving the purposes of articles and columns published in
newspapers? Support your opinion with comprehensive arguments

Answer No: 02
Yes, I think that blogs are serving the purposes of articles and columns published in newspapers.
Now days, most magazines and newspapers are moving closer to the blog format in search of
audience relevance. An article is more like a lecture. Magazines and newspapers are migrating
towards blogging to increase the visibility of their writers but also to generate page views. Blog
posts are often addressed directly to the reader and also invite reader participation. The most
successful blog posts are those where the comments contain nearly as much information as the
post itself. The main purpose of the newspapers article is to convey information. Generally,
newspapers articles offer more information and greater depth than blog posts.
Newspaper articles are longer than blog posts. They are longer because they are written and
edited to provide thoroughly researched information. For example, a newspaper article written
about car accident statistics will use a tone that conveys the authority of the information and the
seriousness of that subject, while an article about losing a family member in a car accident will
be written in a sympathetic tone that emotionally connects to the reader. The tone of blog posts is
generally less formal, and the word counts typically are shorter. A blog post is usually less formal
than a newspaper article. While the tone of a blog can address the sensitive or serious nature of a
topic, a typical blog post allows the post writer to reveal more of his or her personality and
connect with readers. Blog posts also may be more readily shareable, given their shorter length
and informal tone. Newspaper articles provide the opportunity to target readers looking for more
complete and detailed information.
Thus, in my opinion blogs are serving the purposes of articles and columns published in the
newspapers.