In August 2005, Forest Park resident and grassroots media activist Carl Nyberg jumpstarted a blog called Proviso Probe, a digital soapbox "...[t]o cover Proviso Township public officials and the community".

In early September, Nyberg reposted the arrest report of Billy Welch, who was indicted for drug dealing. Billy's brother, Chris Welch, is the president of the board of education for Proviso Township High Schools, and has threatened to sue Nyberg for defamation for his blog posts and internet commentary of the report.

Nyberg says that two possible internet posts are at issue:

provisoprobe.blogspot.com/2005/08/billy-welch-indicted-for-drug-dealing.html

www.soapblox.net/chicago/showDiary.do

Nyberg has also posted a diary about his situation at The Daily Kos, regarded as the internet's most viewed blog:

www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/24/195815/776

With an estimated 15 million bloggers worldwide, the aggregate blogging community -- termed "the blogosphere" -- has gained increased visibility and increasing political reach.

The law for journalistic standards as they pertain to bloggers has by and large yet to be determined, according to a post on the Legal Guide for Bloggers on the website of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group which works on digital civil liberties.

Nyberg maintains a number of websites and blogs for political commentary, including Beyond the Duopology (beyondtheduopoly.blogspot.com), Collective Interest (www.collectiveinterest.net), and Blogging Blagojevich's Blunders (blagosblunders.blogspot.com).

The vicinity which Nyberg writes about has a reputation for political corruption and scandal. In nearby Rosemont, for example, Rosemont mayor Donald Stephens has faced repeated accusations from the corporate media and from area officials of ties to mob activity. One website, called the Illinois Police and Sherriff's News, has documented ties to corruption involving local officials and unprosecuted crimes in nearby Cicero going back eighty years.