Concerning freedom to information and freedom of speech blogs have become more and more important. Worldwide encouraged bloggers take the risk of being threatened and arrested for standing up for their opinion. Deutsche Welle recognizes these efforts and awards the best blogs with the international blog-award THE BOB.

 

 

THE BOBs are given in 16 categories both by online voting and by a blogger jury. In this ceremony five of the winners will be awarded with THE BOB representative for all winners by jury- and online-vote. They can give an authentic impression of what the situation for bloggers is like in countries with oppressed media and how important new ways of communication like mobiles and internet are for free expression. The question of how the new technologies change the use of access to information and the (new) role of journalism in blogs can be discussed in an open panel.