An article from The Times of India reports that the Congress-led government is considering giving accreditation to bloggers as journalists.

India

is in the process of framing rules for granting accreditation to Internet

journalists and bloggers for the first time, taking a reality check on an

evolving world of net writers who could shape opinion and who have already been

granted access to official corridors in countries such as the US.



…

The

idea is to sequester the genuine from the fraud and acknowledge those who really

want to make a difference. They will be given facilities and better access

through accreditation.

An excellent idea on the part of Indian officials.  According to

the article, interest was sparked by bloggers reporting on, and

soliciting contributions for the December 2004 tsunami disaster.

The battle [to gain accreditation and access to the official media machinery] turned grimmer after the

exposé by scam-busting website tehelka.com revealing corruption in

defence deals and showing top politicians and officials accepting kickbacks,

causing immense embarrassment to the government.

Now I wonder what would trigger the Philippine government to act

similarly.  Perhaps a blogger advocacy group can be set up for

this purpose.  It would be good to include mainstream media

practicioners who are getting into blogging, such as PCIJ.  Or should we wait for someone to actually make an exposé on corrupt officials and practices.

But with the current spate of media-practicioner murders in this

country, I would also wonder if bloggers are interested in such an

accreditation if life and limb would be in danger.

An umbrella/advocacy group of bloggers would still definitely be a good move.  We have to start somewhere.

(Via Loose Wire and Micro Persuasion)

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