Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Blog snobs vs journalism snobs

Ponderings of the ins and outs of blog snobbery has been a focal point over the last few weeks for a number of Aussie bloggers. From token gestures like Lurker's Day, designed to bring readers out into the open and encourage comments on weblog posts, to elitist memes which ruthlessly abandon the value of creativity, such as 'The 10 Worst things about my blog,' the Blogosphere is frequently its own worst enemy.

However judging by the Oct/Nov issue of Walkley Magazine there is now a firm contender in the slandering of its worth, via journalists who are unable to adapt in a industry determined by technology.

Sadly, some stand to lose income due to the changing face of journalism in this technological age. Displaying fairly typical ethical dexterity, arguments are posed as to the ethics of bloggers - or 'citizen journalists' from the mighty but soiled pedestal of the mass mainstream corporate media.

David Higgins' story in The Walkley, Power to the people? does pose two sides of the story, but is heavily weighted towards journalists' pov and the blogs examined in it are merely the blogs belonging to mass media journalists, rather than not-for-profit bloggers who have a holistic interest in communication and sharing information with others.

As such, it isn't really a balanced look at the ethics of bloggers, but rather a superficial look at the ethics of mainstream journalists who blog, and it appears the blogosphere is still well beyond the mainstream media's comprehension as is tragically evident in Daily Telly journalist, Anita Quigley August 5,2005 column,
'why some pimply-faced geek, sicko or average Joe Blow thinks someone else wants to read every random thought that crosses their minds, is beyond me...blogging is the ultimate form of narcissism.'