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I was going to say much the same thing. All too many blogs are viewed
by prof journos as written by people who should stick to the day job.
It's true that there's a kind of snobbery there, but also true that
all too many blogs have little content that is meaningful.
There are blogs out there (in the media world as well) with content
that is obviously only to boost the ego of the writer. There are also
blogs out there (in the scientific world especially) with valuable
content, if only it was made more interesting to read.
In my own case I run a blog as well as a group website, and while the
website's theme and focus is clear, the blog, after 5 years, is still
finding its way. The themes have changed, the focus moves, it twists
and turns. It's probably a fairly good indicator of my own development
as a blogger.
I'm still wrestling with the sense of competing obligations between
providing a fair and balanced overview (with my journalist's hat on),
and campaigning to right something that is transparently wrong (time
to get those effing b*****s).
Bloggers of course can be very effective campaigners, sometimes
because they don't have to answer to an editor. But they usually need
that journalist's instinct for novelty or news value if the blog is to
be successful.
And they need something else as well. A commercial sense, for who
might be interested in sponsoring such a blog. It's not for nothing
that some of the most successful bloggers operate in the financial
sector.
So assisted blogging opportunities might be wonderful, but at the end
of the day we all have to pay the energy bill. If editors wish to help
bloggers because they recognise that they add value, then that help
probably needs to be financial.
The traditional media world, wonderful as it is, is haemorrhaging good
writers and journalists because short-sighted managers still don't
understand that it is content that attracts and retains readers. And
real content, i.e. not '25 best beaches in Wales, has to be written,
it takes time.
And once those people are gone they don't come back. They switch to
other work or they decide that early retirement is less hassle. The
consequences? In the media world those channels die because they have
lost their audiences, and consequently their commercial sponsors.
For the audience the consequences are no less appalling. We all face a
dumbing down, a slow decline into 'Death by ignorance', and a reliance
on media channels that only powerful political and commercial
interests will pay for. You only have to look at the media in the US
to see what is over the horizon.
Sorry that this seems to have turned into a bit of a rant. But if you
really want to help writers, be they bloggers, journalists or both,
find a way to support their bottom line. Pay them for their work.
If you want another view, read this:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/08/authors-incomes-collapse-alcs-survey
Regards to all,
Philip
> If "fuller, freer expression" means bad writing, all I can say in
> response is "Death to blogging!", and "Long live the traditional
> media publishing model!".
>> Surely a lot of blogs are there to allow for a fuller, freer
>> expression of the blogger, beyond the constraints of the
traditional >> media publishing model?
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