Hey Mark, One thing I completely agree with is that people who write for paper have trouble tapping for screen. The can't paragraph properly and they don't understand the value of short sentences. Too many commas, brackets, dashes and not enough cool analogies. Spice it up. Shazam.
Nathan Bush
· 5 months ago
Nice post - I like the liberal example! I think the fact that Mumbrella, Crikey, The Punch are made up mostly of ex-journalists shows that they are not too far removed from traditional journalism. The big difference is the lack of restraint - there are no uplines, space or timing restrictions which would have held them back in the past.
Nathan Bush
· 5 months ago
D'oh! Lady Chameleon won't be happy. I used two dashes and three commas.
Harold High Pants
· 5 months ago
If you think being labeled a 'liberal' is a bad thing in the States I will bet you've never lived there.
Do you think the GOP are held in higher regard?
Ed
· 5 months ago
We are going through the same process in the evolution of journalism that we have seen since the New Journalism of Hunter S Thompson and Tom Wolfe in the 1960s. And what evolved to become service journalism - lifestyle journalism if you will - from the 1970s and 1980s when new technology and Murdoch's smashing of the print unions gave papers space to fill. The trouble is that the money men running the papers cutting writing budgets have left much of the service journalism wanting in terms of proper insightful advice for consumers. Newspapers also became conservative in their voice and their criticism. Enter a new form of independent journalism where people write about their real experiences and, hopefully, unbiased views free from the 1200/800/400 word slots and conservatism of newspapers and magazines. Welcome to the world of the niche expert. the only question is who is going to curate all this stuff into a magazine-type format or if indeed it needs to be done. Perhaps the word blogger is a dirty word. But they are the ones who are saving journalism.
Laurel Papworth
· 5 months ago
I always feel a bit weird when people introduce me as "a blogger". The fact I blog shouldn't define me - anymore than I should be introduced as "a car driver", "a book reader" or, God forbid "a TV viewer". Blogging is a small part of who I am and what I do.
I feel like I'm mucking this up. Let me put it this way - banks have brochures on their counters, but they are not brochure makers or advertising agencies, they are banks. I have a blog on how to run online communities and forums and do social media marketing but I am not a blogger - it's just a channel, an avenue to have a voice.
Also agree on the original content thing - I write my posts first, then Google around to find stuff to agree/disagree, to add texture. Oh and funny cartoons. I often search "Image, humor, cartoon". Blend, cook and serve HOT. Heh.
alexander
· 5 months ago
Well, I'm a PR guy but I have a blog. When media quote me, they like to refer to me as a blogger. That carries more weight for them than PR Guy when I'm commenting on media, new media, social networks etc etc.
Sad, but true.
Ben Shepherd
· 5 months ago
it's getting close to the term 'digital guru' in terms of cringe factor
Graeme Bowman
· 5 months ago
The word 'blogger' has a bad name for the same fundamental reason that 'PowerPoint' has a bad name – because both blogging and PowerPoint bring mediocrity within the reach of everyone. (We could throw a few other digital technologies into our mix of instant mediocrity as well.)
Precisely because digital is so instant, any moron's immediate, self-indulgent thought or inane mobile phone photo or video can be rapidly exposed to a global audience, via Twitter, YouTube or whatever. It's publish first, regret later. Sad thing is, most of these digital drongos have no idea how mediocre their drivel is, so there is, alas, no 'regret'.
As a Corporate Comedian and Hoax Speaker, all of my scripted material passes through a tough filtering process before making it as far as the public arena. Not so with Web 2.0. Anything goes.
The simple fact is: blogging is neither good nor bad; it just is. As always, it's the person using the platform who is to be applauded or pulled off stage with a hook. Mark, you are to be applauded. Trouble is, it's a pain wading through the bog of bad blogs to get to the goodies.
It's not bloggers or Twitter or YouTube who are the enemies – it's mass mediocrity. Without doubt, courtesy of Web 2.0, we are currently seeing the biggest dumbing down of publicly available content in history. (To the 0.00001% who are creating gems amongst the rocks, I'm not talking about you.)
Actually, the rise of mediocrity could make for an interesting blog post. What do you think, Mark?
billbennett
· 5 months ago
Like you I run an online site, and use blogging software, but it's definitely not a personal web journal.
For me the term blogger still conjures up images of sad, mildly loony people pushing crazy agendas or writing daily diaries of no consequence, while online journalist or columnist feels respectable.
Guess which term I don't use to describe myself?
@natface
· 5 months ago
I’ll readily admit that there were certain parts of Hartigan’s speech that I agreed with, particularly in relation to his hope that the journalists of the future. His hopes are for them to be specialists, highly educated, well paid and valued by their readers. I wholeheartedly agree, and would argue that there are some journalists across the world who already fall in to that category.
I do find it very strange though, that as a journalist himself, he would make such a sweeping statement in relation to Bloggers as if there were no varying degrees of skill or merit among them. Specifically, he says that from “Bloggers” we get “something of such limited intellectual value as to be barely discernible from massive ignorance.”. This, quite frankly, is bollocks. Of course, most of what’s out there is utter rubbish, but then personally I think most of what’s published in mainstream media is rubbish too. This being said, I agree with Graeme’s comment above: there are some out there who are creating gems among the rocks. There are brilliant scientists writing about science, economists writing about economics and even marketers writing about marketing, all on their own blogs. Just because they choose to publish their ideas in this medium doesn’t make them morons.
I could go on about this for ages. So I’ll leave it at that before I vent myself into a fury!
stephen
· 5 months ago
I belive the taboo now is being republican or right wing in the states. Didnt you get the memo being liberal is cool!
Mark Pollard
· 5 months ago
@Lady Chameleon & Nathan A syntax battle? I like it.
@Harold High Pants No, I haven't lived there but I do remember that 'Liberal' seemed to be 2007/2008's equivalent to 'Flip Flopper'. Or am I mis-guided?
@Ed Interesting POV. Would you like to write something a bit longer about it? Here... or... somewhere else?
@Laurel Yes, it's a weird one that. "Introducing, Laurel Papworth, a woman from Australia." Referencing is cool. I should probably mix it up a bit more. I guess getting back into writing more often, I've really just wanted to get my cobwebs off and I've been a little puristic about it.
@Alex Yes, I can see how that would work in that situation.
@Ben Mmmm... 'digital guru'... it hurts so good.
@Graeme Yes, mediocrity is an interesting one. In the late 90s when CD-Rs, burners and computers became more affordable, there was - almost overnight - a slew of mediocre music in my mailbox (when I was doing music journalism stuff). No longer did people have to go through the challenges presented by getting vinyl (format of choice at the time) pressed. As a Corporate Comedian, it would be interesting if you wrote about mediocre comedy. Would love to read about that.
@Bill I hear you. I don't know if I'd refer to myself as a blogger. I just like writing - and publishing it somewhere. Dig your website... almost said 'blog'!
@Nat Sounds like you have a bigger bit of writing in you on this topic!
@Stephen Sorry. I admit that since Obama got in I don't watch Fox News quite as much. Not that they'd adopt that line of thinking but you know what I mean.
All Comments
One thing I completely agree with is that people who write for paper have trouble tapping for screen. The can't paragraph properly and they don't understand the value of short sentences. Too many commas, brackets, dashes and not enough cool analogies. Spice it up. Shazam.
Do you think the GOP are held in higher regard?
Enter a new form of independent journalism where people write about their real experiences and, hopefully, unbiased views free from the 1200/800/400 word slots and conservatism of newspapers and magazines.
Welcome to the world of the niche expert. the only question is who is going to curate all this stuff into a magazine-type format or if indeed it needs to be done.
Perhaps the word blogger is a dirty word. But they are the ones who are saving journalism.
I feel like I'm mucking this up. Let me put it this way - banks have brochures on their counters, but they are not brochure makers or advertising agencies, they are banks. I have a blog on how to run online communities and forums and do social media marketing but I am not a blogger - it's just a channel, an avenue to have a voice.
Also agree on the original content thing - I write my posts first, then Google around to find stuff to agree/disagree, to add texture. Oh and funny cartoons. I often search "Image, humor, cartoon". Blend, cook and serve HOT. Heh.
Sad, but true.
Precisely because digital is so instant, any moron's immediate, self-indulgent thought or inane mobile phone photo or video can be rapidly exposed to a global audience, via Twitter, YouTube or whatever. It's publish first, regret later. Sad thing is, most of these digital drongos have no idea how mediocre their drivel is, so there is, alas, no 'regret'.
As a Corporate Comedian and Hoax Speaker, all of my scripted material passes through a tough filtering process before making it as far as the public arena. Not so with Web 2.0. Anything goes.
The simple fact is: blogging is neither good nor bad; it just is. As always, it's the person using the platform who is to be applauded or pulled off stage with a hook. Mark, you are to be applauded. Trouble is, it's a pain wading through the bog of bad blogs to get to the goodies.
It's not bloggers or Twitter or YouTube who are the enemies – it's mass mediocrity. Without doubt, courtesy of Web 2.0, we are currently seeing the biggest dumbing down of publicly available content in history. (To the 0.00001% who are creating gems amongst the rocks, I'm not talking about you.)
Actually, the rise of mediocrity could make for an interesting blog post. What do you think, Mark?
For me the term blogger still conjures up images of sad, mildly loony people pushing crazy agendas or writing daily diaries of no consequence, while online journalist or columnist feels respectable.
Guess which term I don't use to describe myself?
I do find it very strange though, that as a journalist himself, he would make such a sweeping statement in relation to Bloggers as if there were no varying degrees of skill or merit among them. Specifically, he says that from “Bloggers” we get “something of such limited intellectual value as to be barely discernible from massive ignorance.”. This, quite frankly, is bollocks. Of course, most of what’s out there is utter rubbish, but then personally I think most of what’s published in mainstream media is rubbish too. This being said, I agree with Graeme’s comment above: there are some out there who are creating gems among the rocks. There are brilliant scientists writing about science, economists writing about economics and even marketers writing about marketing, all on their own blogs. Just because they choose to publish their ideas in this medium doesn’t make them morons.
I could go on about this for ages. So I’ll leave it at that before I vent myself into a fury!
@Harold High Pants No, I haven't lived there but I do remember that 'Liberal' seemed to be 2007/2008's equivalent to 'Flip Flopper'. Or am I mis-guided?
@Ed Interesting POV. Would you like to write something a bit longer about it? Here... or... somewhere else?
@Laurel Yes, it's a weird one that. "Introducing, Laurel Papworth, a woman from Australia." Referencing is cool. I should probably mix it up a bit more. I guess getting back into writing more often, I've really just wanted to get my cobwebs off and I've been a little puristic about it.
@Alex Yes, I can see how that would work in that situation.
@Ben Mmmm... 'digital guru'... it hurts so good.
@Graeme Yes, mediocrity is an interesting one. In the late 90s when CD-Rs, burners and computers became more affordable, there was - almost overnight - a slew of mediocre music in my mailbox (when I was doing music journalism stuff). No longer did people have to go through the challenges presented by getting vinyl (format of choice at the time) pressed. As a Corporate Comedian, it would be interesting if you wrote about mediocre comedy. Would love to read about that.
@Bill I hear you. I don't know if I'd refer to myself as a blogger. I just like writing - and publishing it somewhere. Dig your website... almost said 'blog'!
@Nat Sounds like you have a bigger bit of writing in you on this topic!
@Stephen Sorry. I admit that since Obama got in I don't watch Fox News quite as much. Not that they'd adopt that line of thinking but you know what I mean.