Take-away Feud in Hackney
I love a good feud, and there’s the makings of a really ripe one in this week’s Hackney Gazette. In the editorial, Gazette Opinion, one of our friendly, neighbourhood hacks is taking a pop at the local blogosphere.
SOME bloggers can be remarkably precious about their weblogs considering many are the web equivalent of the nutty tub-thumpers at Speakers’ Corner.
I can’t say I’m precious about mine, but the nutty tub-thumper bit is spot on. Give me a tub I like and I’ll thump merrily along. Anyway, pushing on:
Don’t believe all the sanctimonious drivel about citizen journalism. Most blogs are little more than a self-indulgent soapbox for those arrogant and egotistical enough to believe their opinions and observations deserve a public airing.
Occasionally, a blog will spark controversy and come to the attention of the media via computer search engine alerts.
It’s accepted practice - particularly if a public figure makes controversial remarks on a blog - for newspapers to use them as source material for a follow-up story, subject to the paper contacting the person quoted to check that what appeared is accurate.
For bloggers to moan that what they themselves put in the public domain has somehow been pillaged because a newspaper hasn’t acknowledged them smacks of breath-taking petulance.
Miaow! Who on earth can the Gazette be thinking of? Maybe Dave Hill knows…
(ps - a free story for Hackney Gazette hacks: if your search engine alert has led you thus far, you might want to note that Cllr Akehurst has now come out in favour of extraordinary rendition and as a supporter of imprisoning people without charge in the appalling conditions at Guantanamo Bay. If he ever becomes Hackney Council’s Cabinet Advisor on Crime and Community Safety, we’re going to be even more fucked than we are already).
Published on 4th July, 2008
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