“From bloggers in China to “netroots” activists in the United States, new forms of journalism are reshaping political communications – and therefore politics itself. The success of Barack Obama’s campaign for his party’s nomination in the US presidential election has depended crucially on internet mobilisation. The unprecedented openness of the response to the Sichuan earthquake was also conditioned by citizen journalism and the hyper-textuality of modern media. The influence of new forms of communication is pervasive, the opportunities legion. But is the business of journalism up to the challenge?”

This is the first paragraph of an article I have written for the excellent Opendemocracy.net website. See the rest of it and some fine writing about international affairs here.