Blogging: Net-Narcissism or Social Conscience?
Ellis Henican has always been a favorite reporter & columnist of mine. In this editorial he refers to the "Bathrobe Boys" - which is his term for Bloggers. I have to agree with him. I know of far too many bloggers who pinch articles without credit, bloggers who post stuff that has nothing to do with their blog (like revealing or sexual pics on a political blog that has NOTHING to do with the story) just to drive gawkers to their site or those plain out plaguarize others... or even themselves. (I had a professor in undergrad school who would do one production a year and put her name up on top - example: "PROFESSOR'S NAME PRESENTS" - HAMLET - in teeny tiny print: by William Shakespeare.)
Then there's those who beg for money to go to blogging conferences or some event that they have plenty of money to pay their own way for, so they can share their oh-so-very-special viewpoint with "their readers." These people believe they are so important that their blogs are loaded with pictures of themselves, sometimes their families & children and posts about their various aches & pains, their family illnesses and events right down to the indigestion the Chinese food they ordered last night gave them. They truly suffer from Too-Much-Information or TMI-itis. I sometimes call these people 'Blog Martyrs.' Anything to get their name out there. Their 15-minutes can't come fast enough, so they have to help it along.
My least favorite: bloggers who post news articles while throwing in a few sarcastic & cutting comments (which they 'swear' passes for a sense of humor - but is, IMHO - just plain hateful and cruel).
Many times I simply post an article with no comment. Why? Well, oftimes the article speaks for itself. It's not that I agree or disagree with it -- to me the article was very thought-provoking and worth some more bandwith so I post it. And, very often I am simply too sick to post commentary or sit at the keyboard for long. For me, blogging isn't about my stats, or getting good ratings -- it's about using the "voice" and brain God gave (finally after years of abusive oppression) to have a social conscience.
Henican says it best:
The Perils of Bathrobe Reporting
by Ellis Henican
Facts are pesky little things.
They have this maddening habit of refusing to present themselves.
Often — and I know this from many years of wrestling facts as newspaper reporter and columnist — you have to go outside and grab the jumpy suckers one by one. Then, you have to shine a light in their eyes and slap ’em upside the head, stunning them long enough for the rest of the world to get a good, clear view and start to figure out exactly what these particular facts might mean.
Whew!
I’m not complaining here. Fact-hunting, often called “reporting,” is a noble and rewarding occupation, although not so much monetarily any more. But it sure isn’t quick or easy. I promise you that much. And it sure isn’t cheap.
What’s cheap is some self-absorbed nitwit sitting in front of a computer in his bathrobe, stealing the facts that some hard-working, low-paid newspaper drone just spent hours collecting.
Then, Bathrobe Boy tosses off a condescending comment or two about those stolen facts, throwing in a few dismissive pokes at the fact-chasing newspaper dinosaur who did all the grunt work of discovery.
You want to know about the current state of the news business? That’s where the news business is today.
The people who gather the facts — the vast, vast majority of them still employed in the ink-on-paper world, even though their stories now also appear on the Internet — are watching in horror as their beloved business collapses and all the preening Bathrobe Boys declare themselves “The Future.”
Hell, maybe they are.
But get back to me — will you? — when all these New Media outlets achieve the cash flow and the attention span and the social conscience to sit through a three-week trial at the courthouse, prowl the corridors of power with a notebook, read the agenda of every zoning meeting, climb the housing-project stairway before the body is cold, stand outside the precinct in the rain until the perp is walked — all to gather some facts.
The Bathrobe Boys may do the hard work one day. They haven’t done it yet.
And that’s just a fact.
SOURCE
To Read More of Mr. Henican's GREAT Work - Click Here
Then there's those who beg for money to go to blogging conferences or some event that they have plenty of money to pay their own way for, so they can share their oh-so-very-special viewpoint with "their readers." These people believe they are so important that their blogs are loaded with pictures of themselves, sometimes their families & children and posts about their various aches & pains, their family illnesses and events right down to the indigestion the Chinese food they ordered last night gave them. They truly suffer from Too-Much-Information or TMI-itis. I sometimes call these people 'Blog Martyrs.' Anything to get their name out there. Their 15-minutes can't come fast enough, so they have to help it along.
My least favorite: bloggers who post news articles while throwing in a few sarcastic & cutting comments (which they 'swear' passes for a sense of humor - but is, IMHO - just plain hateful and cruel).
Many times I simply post an article with no comment. Why? Well, oftimes the article speaks for itself. It's not that I agree or disagree with it -- to me the article was very thought-provoking and worth some more bandwith so I post it. And, very often I am simply too sick to post commentary or sit at the keyboard for long. For me, blogging isn't about my stats, or getting good ratings -- it's about using the "voice" and brain God gave (finally after years of abusive oppression) to have a social conscience.
Henican says it best:
But get back to me — will you? — when all these New Media outlets achieve the cash flow and the attention span and the social conscience to sit through a three-week trial at the courthouse, prowl the corridors of power with a notebook, read the agenda of every zoning meeting, climb the housing-project stairway before the body is cold, stand outside the precinct in the rain until the perp is walked — all to gather some facts.You're right Mr. Henican -- we haven't.
The Bathrobe Boys may do the hard work one day. They haven’t done it yet.
The Perils of Bathrobe Reporting
by Ellis Henican
Facts are pesky little things.
They have this maddening habit of refusing to present themselves.
Often — and I know this from many years of wrestling facts as newspaper reporter and columnist — you have to go outside and grab the jumpy suckers one by one. Then, you have to shine a light in their eyes and slap ’em upside the head, stunning them long enough for the rest of the world to get a good, clear view and start to figure out exactly what these particular facts might mean.
Whew!
I’m not complaining here. Fact-hunting, often called “reporting,” is a noble and rewarding occupation, although not so much monetarily any more. But it sure isn’t quick or easy. I promise you that much. And it sure isn’t cheap.
What’s cheap is some self-absorbed nitwit sitting in front of a computer in his bathrobe, stealing the facts that some hard-working, low-paid newspaper drone just spent hours collecting.
Then, Bathrobe Boy tosses off a condescending comment or two about those stolen facts, throwing in a few dismissive pokes at the fact-chasing newspaper dinosaur who did all the grunt work of discovery.
You want to know about the current state of the news business? That’s where the news business is today.
The people who gather the facts — the vast, vast majority of them still employed in the ink-on-paper world, even though their stories now also appear on the Internet — are watching in horror as their beloved business collapses and all the preening Bathrobe Boys declare themselves “The Future.”
Hell, maybe they are.
But get back to me — will you? — when all these New Media outlets achieve the cash flow and the attention span and the social conscience to sit through a three-week trial at the courthouse, prowl the corridors of power with a notebook, read the agenda of every zoning meeting, climb the housing-project stairway before the body is cold, stand outside the precinct in the rain until the perp is walked — all to gather some facts.
The Bathrobe Boys may do the hard work one day. They haven’t done it yet.
And that’s just a fact.
SOURCE
To Read More of Mr. Henican's GREAT Work - Click Here
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