Tag Archives: blogger

Dokter’s Weekly Report #10

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This week I’m having a jab at journalism in Australia. My first experience with the media here was an ad for an upcoming episode of Today Tonight. I turned to the missus and asked, “is this satire?” Sadly it is not. It was so over-the-top silly I didn’t take it serious. What is actually sadder is that there are people here who take shows like Today Tonight and ACA serious.

The best way, I have learned, to judge the standard of journalism within a country is to look at the absolute lowest form of rubbish that passes for journalism.

By looking at TT and ACA, not forgetting their lovely shock-jocks, the standard i pretty low here, unfortunately.

It is worth mentioning that there are some rather good sources of journalism here too. Downside is that they don’t get that much attention, nor applaud for what they add to the media landscape here.

What is holden the better part of the media back in Australia is their obsession of putting up a clean fight. It’s so clean it is a more powerful sleeping aid than Stilnoct. Stop waving your bloody finger while saying they’re “naughty.”

What this country needs is someone to shake things up a bit, be progress, yet professional. Willing to get dirty, but come out clean after the fight is over.

That was a really nice half-a-bottle of wine.

Good night,
and good luck.

Linkage

Recording Mr Jones – Read it
Here you have a journo trying to adhere to the idea of being part of the ‘fourth estate’ while being accused of being unethical.

‘Private’ dinner with Alan Jones was open to anyone – Read it
This must be the mildest form of ‘undercover reporting’ I’ve ever come across. Only withholding that you’re a journalist. Sadly not surprising that the journo is being criticised for it.

A pretty massive deal – Read it
This is a too common misconception I am met with very often. That you should write a story, then pitch it. It doesn’t work like that. I can’t walk into Apple, add a few lines of code and expect to be paid. If you’re trying to break into the field of journalism, read this write-up!

Mads Brügger, “The Ambassador” Director, Takes Exploitation To A Whole New Level – Read it
Undercover reporting I would never expect to see happen or be approved of in Australia.

10 Dispensable Twitter Tips for Journalism Students – Read it
Or 10 tips to be boring as fuck on Twitter while being like everyone else that has a pole shoved up their arse. Be yourself – that’s the only tip you need.

Social Media Etiquette for Journalists: The Rules Have Changed – Read it
A bit more down-to-earth and up-to-date tips on how journos should act online.

Are blogs journalism? Um, no. But they are a journalism medium – Read it
And they will be more difficult to compete with if the MSM doesn’t wake up. In the same way the film industry got fucked in the arse by torrents.

Tweetage

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Thoughts on the future of journalism

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After reading the article I discovered 140 characters will not suffice. Before reading my following musings, please read the above article.

The Students
It is scary how naive these students sound. Just because you can find a lot of information online they readily believe any information will be available. Just visit Google, search and you will be given whatever you look for.

What if what they searched for didn’t provide anything, would these blue-eyed whippersnappers interpret that as a confirmation that what they were looking for doesn’t exist? A bit scary. However, good news for me, because that means the bar isn’t set high; more accurately, the bar is probably lying on the ground somewhere in a frat house.

Citizen Journalists & Bloggers
Every blue moon there is that one citizen journalist (blogger) who really amazes and puts real journalists to shame. Their luxury is that they don’t have an editor breathing down their neck, asking you not to write something because it might upset the investors. Which means they ca break a story anytime. That is however their weakness, as they might not have someone to force them to fact-check if the story is correct.

Shoe-leather Journalists
The trained and even educated journalist. Most of the time worked hard to get to where they are. Too familiar with gatekeeping and laws. Forced to cut corners to break the latest story. Instead of maybe working on a story for weeks, they now how only hours to beat the competing paper or even the too eager local blogger.

There seem to be a lot of good journalists still out there, but they aren’t given a chance anymore. The are told they must follow the 24h deadline.

The old shoe-leather journalist still exist, but is not forced out of existence because of technology, but because of revenue and the absurd belief readers only want breaking news and want to pay for it.

Old Media
It has stagnated the same way the entertainment business has. Entertainment consumers has voiced what they want, instead the entertainment refuses to move forward. The end result, BitTorrent.

The same might happen to the media if something isn’t done quick. However, it might be a good thing – let the old dinosaurs die and let the younger journalists create their own up-to-date media houses.

New Media
The only competition the media should feel are coming from bloggers are quality. Washington Post not only has blogs, but use WordPress to host them. As John Birmingham mentioned, when the New Yorker released their iPad app their subscriptions went up.

Readers don’t want to pay for breaking news. What they however are willing to pay for are quality articles. Well written and longer than 140 characters.

The End
As mentioned, the media must not only understand that readers won’t pay for breaking news, but they also need to understand that journalist will go and stay with those who let them be true journalists – the shoe-leather kind.

The entertainment business claimed BitTorrent would kill the business. So far it seems to do pretty well. However, you can see only a handful who provide what consumers want; iTMS, Spotify and NetFlix, to mention a very few.

The same will happen to the media, if they don’t change with times and value their journalists and quality reporting.

I’m at the bottom of my glass of vodka now. Thoughts might become more erratic, but I think I’ve gotten my message across.

As a journalist, if I ever end up at a paper like Washington Post I’ll be ecstatic, but end of the day, as long as I’m allowed to do what I want as a journalist and paid for it, I don’t really care who hires me. But that’s the problem – will there be anyone left to hire trained journalists in the future? Or will we be left with bloggers who get their income from ads?