But one fact internet crusaders omit to mention is that campaigns like these owe a great deal of their success to other, older media. Internet penetration in India is limited to 5-8 per cent of the population, and it is the extensive coverage that newspapers and TV channels give these Net initiatives that has vastly multiplied their visibility and audience outreach.

The number of those who have cyberaccess in Egypt, according to a 2008 government report, reached 9.17 million citizens, out of roughly 80 millions. This is a huge leap from the only 650,000 users we had in 2000. Still, this is a minority in the present time. But just like its Indian counterpart, the Egyptian mainstream media is obsessed with what goes on in the blogosphere. Local media outlets–whether they are Independent, opposition, government owned, or privately run–regularly monitor blogs, Facebook groups, web forums, and report on what goes on for their newspapers, TV and radio stations. Journalists are also hooking themselves up to Twitter and Jaiku to follow what the activists are tweeting and texting about. Many bloggers are also journalists, who have access to the mainstream media and can push for their stories and campaigns to get wider coverage. Of course this means we get on occasions tons of bullshit, negative and sensationalist reporting, but in all cases if a story now goes on some blog, or you launch a campaign on some website, you are more or less assured this will be picked up by journalists in the mainstream media who still have a wider audience than internet surfers.

Indian politicians have been quick to blame the Pakistani state for acts of terrorism, but the gunmen’s motivation is more likely to be closer to home.