10 Years of Blogs: Do they carry weight in Ecuador’s mainstream media? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

The following post originally appeared on the blog of Ecuadorean communications professor Christian Espinosa and was translated into English by volunteer translator Linda Evarts. If you're interested in contributing to Global Voices’ mission by translating posts from non-English weblogs, please contact the appropriate Regional or Language Editor.
While reading comments about the 10-year anniversary of blogs (among them, those published in Spain’s El País [ES] and Argentina’s Infobae [ES]), I thought about the piece published by El Comercio in Ecuador.
It was a commentary by the technology editor, Andrea Rodríguez, who has followed web 2.0 with the same zeal that she brings to her study of science. In doing so, she’s put Cobertura Digital on the map with her writings about the development of journalism and blogs in Ecuador and the region.
El Comercio’s article mentions the statistics from www.ecuablogs.com, the community of Ecuadorean bloggers (that has been neglected of late — will it be revived? — one hopes…)
The title of the piece: “Blogs Celebrate Their 10 Year Anniversary and Keep Growing”
But how much influence on traditional media in Ecuador have blogs had in the past or do they have now?  Do they carry weight?  Here at the Cobertura Digital we’ve assembled a sampling of what bloggers are thinking…
Erebé.net thinks blogs exert almost no influence, based on a comparison of Ecuador with other countries.  Still, based on the reach of blogs and the media coverage they’ve received in Ecuador of late, I think they’ve achieved much more than Erebé.net gives them credit for … Am I being overly optimistic?
Today I’m celebrating the work of several Ecuadorean journalist colleagues who work for renowned national publications and for whom blogs allow a closer relationship with their audience (when previously they had to pray that someone would write a letter to the editor).
, is the Managing Editor of El Tiempo, a newspaper of great influence in the third largest city of the country and the author of the blog “Hablemos de periodismo”. (He is surely the first Managing Editor with a blog in Ecuador.)
is one of the best sports journalists on Radio Sonorama, one of the country’s most popular stations and maintains the blog Cyberfútfol (he posted from Germany during the World Cup).
writes an important column in El Universo, the largest national newspaper, and writes the independent blog Leaves Torn From the Notebook (Las hojas arrancadas del cuaderno).
is President of the Association of Foreign Journalists in Ecuador—he’s the one who organizes meetings with (Ecuadorean President) Rafael Correa—and writes a blog on public journalism.
, winner of the International Foundation for New Journalism Award, writes a blog called Independent Word (Palabra Independiente).
writes Teletoxia, an important media criticism column in the daily newspaper HOY, and keeps the blog Edocmanolo.
, who conducts interviews for Gamavisión’s morning news program, has a blog called Jorge Aguirre.
manages one of the most popular radio stations in Cuenca and writes his opinions in his blog Cuencanos en el planeta.
writes radioguamote.blogspot.com a blog in which he practices hyper-local journalism, bringing the media spotlight to an indigenous community that receives minimal coverage in the traditional media.
, one of the most prestigious schools of journalism in Latin America, runs Chasqui, a magazine-styled blog about Latin America.
: Here we find the recent unveiling of a section promoting blogs in the digital version of the newspaper.
: Despite its repeated blog bashing, the Guayaquil station has its own blog platform for its users and listeners.
, the recognized columnist of the newspaper HOY and producer of the radio show Sonorama, has a blog called Hot Potato (La papa caliente).
, the director of Informed Citizenry on the Web (Ciudadanía Informada.com) and former politics editor of the newspaper HOY, writes a blog about politics, soccer and journalism.
is trying to build blog capacity—though still in the form of editorial columns—by providing space to TV journalist Gonzalo Ruiz, among others.
Cobertura Digital has dipped into blogs and journalism as a source of work and business.
, a correspondent for Tiempos del Mundo, writes for the magazines Diners and Criterios and produces a radio show on Nuevo Tiempo and maintains Cobertura Digital to help journalists and public relations workers develop, design and produce blogs.
Blog Agency of Police News: www.policiales.coberturadigital.com
Time for Blogs in Tiempos del Mundo: www.tdm.coberturadigital.com
Video blog of the TV show La Hora Nacional: www.horanacional.com
Website monitoring social spending in Ecuador: www.inversionsocial.ec
The beta version of Cobertura Digital TV has a video blog of citizen journalism about Ecuador.
Have we missed anyone?  Leave a comment.
-Thanks to a commentary we remembered that Rafael Méndez leads a newspaper that keeps us up to date on what's happening in Naranjal:
http://lanoticianaranjal.blogspot.com
-Guillermo Granja, a popular Ecuadorean photographer and now owner of Agencia, wrote to us with his blog: http://guillermo.fotografosecuador.com
Colombia: news on Víctor Solano’s blog