In some ways it is surprising that the Syrian uprising is being covered to the extent it is in the UK broadcast media.

Yes, the events in Syria are marking a radical shift in thinking and politics in the Arab world.  Yet with so little substantiated news it is surely very hard for this story to dominate news agendas as it should.

There have been no iconic images such as the one of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young women who lost her life protesting against the almost certainly fraudulent Iranian elections results two yeas ago.

And with next to no verifiable footage taken within Syria, independently minded journalists banned by the Assad regime have to rely on the accounts of refugees streaming across international borders.

In Turkey, President Erdogan, who has been building up strong economic and political ties with Assad’s regime has offered refugees from the town of Jisr al-Shughour – which has been the target of a concerted military assault – protection on the understanding they do not talk about their experiences to journalists keen to update reports.

So when the established media cannot report there is a vacuum.

It is left up to citizen journalists such as Amina Abdallah Arraf al-Omari, a 25-year-old gay woman in Damascus to tell the world what is going on.

Amina, within a few short months, was able to give an insight that no journalists could.

The blog was attracting hundreds of thousands of hits, and no doubt was used as a source by many reporters.

Then Amina was abducted, but by whom?  No one was sure although one of the many branches of the Syrian secret police or security services must have been involved – an online campaign to free her resulted.

However, it has been unmasked as a hoax, a complete fraud.

It was the work of a US student residing in Edinburgh, Tom MacMaster and possibly his partner Britta Froelicher (although MacMaster now claims it is his work alone).

Even the pictures of Amina were stolen from the Facebook page of a Croatian girl living in London who had no connection to the material being used on the blog.

MacMaster had the gall to explain his deception:  “While the narrative voice may have been fictional, the facts on this blog are true and not misleading as to the situation on the ground. I do not believe that I have harmed anyone – I feel that I have created an important voice for issues that I feel strongly about.”

There are many issues raised by such behaviour but I want to concentrate on just one:  The reliance of news sources where there is no legal or editorial safeguards to ensure a commitment to follow standards of integrity and professionalism.

Of course no news outlet is free of bias, but the issue with Citizenship Journalism is that those basic standards we expect from a news source might be there or not, through design or lack of it.

This is one reason why established media outlets such as national newspapers do not have to feel threatened when there seems to be others with greater access, speed or credentials disseminating news.

I have been promising that I would give my support, as humble as it is, to a few local sites.

Perhaps the most patient although not sure he minds is Aidan O’Rourke. I am sure I have mentioned Aidan before but it is still good to highlight his photographic work again.

Aidan concentrates, at the risk of being corrected, on city and landscapes – with Manchester being a focus of his attention.  (The above image is his city panorama that was displayed at Urbis).

Aidan archives his work for sale on his blog, a useful resource for agencies and anyone that needs a good image for business or pleasure.

I have a feeling in many years time his work will be hailed as a “moment in time captured forever” as NW local news media like that angle and I can’t see that changing, even in a hundred years.

The second is Salford Online, which is starting to register around 50,000 readers a month and pushing toward half a million page views.

The site is gaining in confidence as well as numbers but advertising rates are very reasonable so worth contacting the editor Brian for more information: editor@salfordonline.com

Last but not least (not avoiding a tired phrase) is Mark Simpson’s everything you wanted to know about tax but were afraid to ask blog.

Craig McGinty and I worked with Mark and SBN and I think Mark has a rare gift for making complex subjects interesting and clearer to understand.

Mark and his practice are based in Old Trafford, nearer to the cricket ground – they have standards.

They are of course other blogs and websites to mention – apologies to those that I need or should be plugging – but one entry at a time.

It has been a little while since I added to my blog.

But I will be rectifying that shortly. One reason is an article that evangelises blogs in the Guardian. So if you are a blogger, like to surf blogs or want to reignite your enthusiam this article should be of interest.

The Guardian – Diary of a somebody

Hard copies were in the Saturday Work section of the Guardian.