2002-11-20T04:28:00.000-08:00

Temporary Disillusionment
There's a terrible circularity at work in the relationship between online and print media, and their intersection over the phenomenon referred to as 'blogging' is particularly interesting. I first heard about blogs through The Age, and for that I am grateful. Since then, however, I have been extremely irritated by The Age's coverage of various blogs and related issues.

Yesterday was a prime example, with Nicole Mankeltow's article "I Blog Therefore I Am." Her opening paragraph is a comment on the sheer volume of words that are published online. This immediately establishes a dichotomy between print and online media, where the carefully and professionally written traditional news forms are in DANGER of being swamped by the 'deluge' (her word) of hack writers out there in the ether. That's me. I'm the hack writer.

Then she says that many blogs feed off the daily media. That's me, too. But the way she writes it, blogs just echo the newspapers. Not true, not at all. Many of the blogs I've read turn the news around, critiquing, commenting and making it real.

Now for a biggie. The Age, in its regular Blogon column, seems desperate to find blogs that are somehow more newsworthy and interesting than your garden-variety collection of thoughts. Themed blogs, if you will (although I won't). These blogs -- the ones that are sites of grieving for Bali victims, or about web site design, or whatever -- are held up as a cut above the blurting masses. It looks to me like they're trying to shove a media revolution into niche markets and as far away from the middle-class mainstream (The Age's readership) as possible.

A final sting in the article: "And some bloggers write every day, whether they have anything to say or not." The suggestion was that blogs that are less frequently updated are generally more thoughtful and interesting. Well, on the facts that's just wrong. But it still made me feel bad for writing here most days. That is, I felt bad until I talked to Jamie about the idea. The conversation went thus:

Beth: Some journo in The Age said people who update their website everyday don't have anything to say
Jamie: Someone wrote about people who have nothing to write about?
Beth: yeah, yeah
Jamie: Someone WROTE about people who have nothing to write about?
Beth: oh, I think I see your point.

So, the meeja suck. Also, I was a little miffed by the Sydney Morning Herald's expose of John Howard's blogspot. That was one of MY sites, damn it, and now the magic's gone. Of course that blinkered journalist thought it was an "elaborate Labour party prank" -- some people can't recognise what the space outside of the box looks like. Why must every shimmering bubble of satire and creativity be shattered by the clumsy clod-hoppers of the mainstream press?

2002-11-20T04:24:00.000-08:00

My Obsession With Close-Reading
Good on everyone for investigating the Bali attacks and finding some people who may have been involved. But whoooaaaa there, let's not allow journalists to fill our brains with poorly-thought-out prejudiced mush.

Today's Age had a big splash about Al-Qaeda links to the Bali bombings. Now this information came from a CNN translation of a website. Obviously, there's no way that iron-clad chain of journalistic integrity could produce anything but the truth. What I found most amusing was that the article did choose to problematise one aspect of the story:

"Indonesian police are questioning its alleged spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir."

OK, so the links to al-Qaeda are definite, but Bashir is only "allegedly" the spiritual leader of JI? Crazy stuff. It gets even better in The Australian, which has an almost identical article. Here, Bashir is again an alleged spiritual leader, however the fact that he visited the Bali suspect three times last year is conclusive proof of Jemaah Islamiah's involvement in the attack.

Oh, and get this for "proof" - the Bali suspect's home has been searched, and police found "amateur mechanical repairs, electrical components and a sewing machine that neighbours said was used to make veils." Clearly a terrorist. My home in Canberra had similar stuff, except I mostly used the sewing machine to make outfits for my Barbie doll. Which is pretty evil in itself.