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August 02, 2005
Uneasy Bed Partners: Bloggers and the Media
The biggest trends amongst the local blogging community these days are flogging the press to death and adopting an unhealthy distrust for almost anything associated with journalists. I do not really know where and how this started, but the relationship between the press and the local blogging community is something of interest to me.
I think I have said enough about how the behaviour of the majority of the local blogging community follows that of the few “celeb” bloggers up there, who would like to believe that they have contributed to the local blogging scene by (a) pumping up the publicity for blogging and bloggers, (b) starting a group blog page which purports to follow bits of philosophies from other group blog sites like Boing Boing, and (c) holding a conference. Through all of that, they developed a relationship with the media where the media wanted to milk the blogging bandwagon for all its worth before things became saturated and the satisfaction of attention which the blogging community craved so much. It was as simple as a “I scratch your back and you scratch mine” relationship. For a moment or two, things were fine and the lines were drawn clearly.
The push came to shove when the media started to report on bits of negative aspects of some bloggers. It could well have been sensationalizing their stories, because, face it, the local rags had to keep an eye on their bottom lines as well. It could well have been oversights on the part of the journos who might have misreported the facts or overly tilted the angle. It could have been the editors who had to chuck things out because ad space would always be more valuable than the space for the articles, and along the way, the intended point of the journo might have been diluted altogether. I would like to make this assumption that not many bloggers, especially those from the “celebs” category, have really been in the newsroom long enough to understand the mechanics behind putting a rag together in that few hours of the day so that it could be put to bed.
So, without trying hard to see and understand the other perspective, knives and swords were unsheathed. The media became one big bad guy who was hell bent on discrediting the blogging community. It became a “them versus us” thingy. From what I have observed, it became a mild form of paranoia where almost anything the media had to say about blogging and local bloggers would not be anything positive to begin with. Bits and pieces of criticism which were spewed from the “celeb” category of bloggers rubbed off on many of their “fans” and “admirers”. I do not wish to consider whether these “fans” and “admirers” had taken a second or two of their time to think clearly about the whole issue before clamouring to join the cacophony of voices (some were extremely loud and overbearing) in putting the media in a bad light. Who knows? Perhaps whoever who came up with the best piece of retort against the media in the comments section of their favoured “celeb” bloggers would be noticed by the “celeb” blogger and any form of endorsement (be it a precious link to their sites or a mention in one of the entries) would come and he or she too could turn into a demi-“celeb”.
This is one problem I see with regards to our society as a whole. As I have mentioned before, it will not take too long before the flimsy piece of stand they hold would collapse a little and a personal attack on the other debater would be launched in hope to save their faces. People just simply fail to appreciate where the other side of the argument was coming from and present their points objectively without degenerating this civil exchange of ideas into a slugfest. Can we form our own arguments without having to ride on someone’s reputation or to parrot what others are saying? Why is there a problem arguing and debating based on facts and your own perceptions, failing which agree to disagree?
I am peeved by the lemmings-esque approach after another blogging article was published in the local tabloid on Sunday. Before anyone can say “The New Paper”, knives were out and the vilifying of the journalist who was credited with the article started in earnest. Along the way, some people earned their way into the local blogging communities “Hall of Fame” by getting endorsement from the few local “celeb” bloggers.
I have to state this. The said journalist is someone I know personally and she blogs as well. So why would she not be capable of penning an article on blogging from the perspective of the Singaporean blogging scene (which is still infantile) versus the ones in the US or the UK? In my opinion, she is more than capable of writing such an article, based on her experience as a blogger and her profession, as a journalist. If people care enough to respect professionals, then such vilifying and mob mentality would never have surfaced in the first place.
(Entry will probably have to be edited.)
Posted by D W at August 2, 2005 11:55 AM
Comments
A few have tried to give a balanced view. But it is very obvious - to me - that the slant of most of the articles was to milk the subject for sensationalism (ad space or not).
Posted by: xena at August 3, 2005 12:54 PM
I couldn't b bothered by all these sensational stuff abt bloggers & media. I still blog my style. Whoever blogs is entitled to whatever hullubu they want to create but I believe all these will die down eventually. Juz that their antics are amusing & we become the audience to their 'show'
Posted by: riverwind at August 13, 2005 12:23 PM