By Janice Wong
tnp@sph.com.sg

FOR me, the most stressful part about writing a personal column is not meeting the deadline or readers' criticism.

It's what opinions to air and how much to reveal about myself.

If I were more assertive about my liberal stand and candid about my daily lifestyle, I would run the risk of attacks from conservatives and psychopathic stalkers.

But when I am less so, the column loses the edgy, honest and voyeuristic sparkle that are some ingredients of good writing, so I have been told. Besides, what's the point of voicing my thoughts if I have to soften them?

Blogging exerts the same pressure. A careless decision can result in dire consequences.

NEW GENRE

The word blog is short for the term web log, in which a blogger logs favourite links, diary entries and shares photos through the Internet. Blogs have been hailed as a new genre of media, a real-time pulpit where one can report on news, discourse on politics and expound on anything, from what one ate for breakfast to what one thinks of other races.

The latter got Public Service Commission (PSC) scholar Chua Cheng Zhan, 21, into trouble, reported The Sunday Times last week. Some blog readers took offence at racist remarks posted on his website and questioned his character. PSC is investigating the matter. Mr Chua and his family have apologised.

The number of such incidents is bound to increase. A new blog is created every 7.4 seconds worldwide, according to blog search engine Technorati. Singapore has at least 15,000.

The problem arises because of an inherent conflict. Blogs are private in nature - bloggers write as if they are talking to their best friends and there is no professional control like an editor - but are public in broadcast.

Some bloggers argue that blog content should not be regarded as free-use information.

One of them is local medical student Chow Yoke Kuan. She received flak from the public in 2002 for selfishness after newspaper Streats extracted a comment from her blog about her reluctance to join a particular volunteer activity.

Ms Chow responded that she had intended to change the comment and felt it was unfair to quote her blog without permission.

The other argument is that the website is sanctioned by the writer herself, so the blogger should take responsibility for her site.

A reader or journalist should not be expected to keep checking back to see if the blogger has changed her mind. But there is such a thing as second thoughts. Sometimes, I change my entries after posting them. I'd be quite distressed if an entry that I intend to change is publicised.

While updating my online journal, I have to constantly keep myself in check because it is easy to get carried away discussing my annoying relatives, colleagues and boyfriends.

Later, I waver over my candour and wonder: Will I hurt them with my revelations? Should I name them or disguise their identity? Will I get fired, or worse, sued?

My concerns seem valid. In Iran, blogger Arash Sigarchi was sentenced to 14 years in jail on charges of 'espionage and insulting the country's leaders'.

PROVOCATIVE PHOTOGRAPHS

According to The New York Times, Delta Airlines flight attendant Ellen Simonetti's service was terminated because of provocative photographs of herself in crew uniform posted on her blog.

Mr J H Verkerke, professor of law and director of the Program for Employment and Labor Law Studies at the University of Virginia, said: 'Ms Simonetti cannot invoke the common law privacy doctrines because she posted these photos in a public place.'

Not all corporations frown on blogging. General Motors vice-chairman Robert A Lutz and Sun Microsystems president Jonathan Schwartz have discovered blogs as a great way to connect casually.

But freedom of expression comes with responsibility. Given that blogging is such a new phenomenon with no clear guidelines, what constitutes responsible, or at least acceptable, boils down to judgment.

What I judged to be harmless may be considered hurtful to someone sensitive. People have berated me for discussing them online and in my columns, even though I used pseudonyms.

For risk-averse writers out there, the golden rule is: When in doubt, leave out. Personally, I am the kind of girl who likes to take some measured risks now and then.