TravelBlog: A journey from personal site to travel story blog for thousands

World traveler Alistair Watters created a personal blog in 2002 for he and his friends to record their experiences from around the world. Since then, his blog has expanded from a few travelers' experiences to more than 8,000 travelers worldwide.

"TravelBlog.org exists to provide an outlet for the travel stories, tales and photos of those on the road," Watters wrote in an e-mail. "[The site is] free to use and will remain so."

Watters and more than 8,000 TravelBlog members write from all over the world, including some politically sensitive areas. According to Watters, some of the bloggers' experiences do reflect what is covered in the major media.

"Impressions that I get from the blogs about the Middle East lead me to believe that -- by and large, away from the tourist traps -- people in these countries have a culture of welcoming travelers, being inquisitive about them and due to the negative media coverage, being surprised to see them," Watters wrote.

Watters also indicated that whenever there is disaster or death involved, the media tends to concentrate on countries' negative aspects.

"Nice articles on culture and history don't sell newspapers or attract ratings as much as reports of hurricanes or terrorism. I personally feel that the risk of being caught in a terrorist attack is far lower than being fatally injured in a traffic accident," Watters wrote from Kuta, Bali, a country that has faced recent terrorist-related attacks.

One of TravelBlog's members, "kps," was recently in Basrah, Iraq, as part of the reconstruction project. In response to another user's comment, the blogger stated that it is good to have first-hand experiences in a country, beyond what is in the news.

"You can make your own mind up about what's going on here without the distorting lens of the international media circus," kps wrote in his journal on TravelBlog.

It would be great if travel stories and reports on world culture took a higher precedence in modern newspapers and magazines, Watters wrote, although he is aware of the shareholders that these media outlets must report to. With the increasing popularity of blogs and the Internet as ways to get news, the future of media coverage will reflect consumers' choices, Watters added.

"I believe that we are seeing the beginnings of a massive paradigm shift in publishing. ... People are going to be far more in control of what they choose to read and the information they seek out than the traditional media allows at the moment," Watters explained.

"So priority given in newspapers will gradually become obsolete and choice will take over. Whether generally we see more educated and enlightened, or more scandal and consumerist audiences, remains to be seen."

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