This morning I received the kind of news that puts Lara Bingle's bad-hair-day Grazia bungle and the virtual Groggate brawl into perspective (hence, no 'Short & Sweet'), though rigmarole by comparison, both issues are worthy of Monday Media Study status. Photoshopping fictional events, the right to blogging anonymity, professional parameters versus personal expression, justifiable outing versus unnecessary exploitation, grinding axes for glorification versus temporary lapses in editorial judgement... heck, let's throw the hackneyed old 'bloggers v journalists' angle in there, too. Where do we start?
Being caught up in the mediasphere, particularly in the media-on-media vortex and the relentless manufacturing of celebrity gossip, often enables more detestable aspects of humanity to come to the fore, leaving good conscience, manners and empathy at the door.
'Make war, not love' appears to be the prevailing mantra, unless a considerable sum of money or status enhancement are guaranteed. Even good intentions are usurped by cynicism, negativity and an entrenched set of values where hits and sales, controversy and criticism, scoops and exclusives outweigh compassion, honesty and peace.
It's a blog-eat-blog, glossip-eat-glossip world and keeping up with Twitter has long since replaced the Jones'. Hits = happiness. Hashtags = community. Alienation is the price you pay for being offline. Popularity is just one Facebook/blog update away! And, of course, any publicity is good publicity (unless your entire career is based on how you look, in which case a bad hair day is more detrimental for you than most, or you're a public servant trying to keep your anonymous political blog on the downlow).
This desensitisation or misappropriation of values, where people's feelings are dispensable and democracy outweighs decency, filters through the media and into other online media and real-world practise where one's moral and professional filters can become clouded by the prevailing opinion du jour (it's happened here before) or the necessity to deliver more, more, more.
'Make war, not love' appears to be the prevailing mantra, unless a considerable sum of money or status enhancement are guaranteed. Even good intentions are usurped by cynicism, negativity and an entrenched set of values where hits and sales, controversy and criticism, scoops and exclusives outweigh compassion, honesty and peace.
It's a blog-eat-blog, glossip-eat-glossip world and keeping up with Twitter has long since replaced the Jones'. Hits = happiness. Hashtags = community. Alienation is the price you pay for being offline. Popularity is just one Facebook/blog update away! And, of course, any publicity is good publicity (unless your entire career is based on how you look, in which case a bad hair day is more detrimental for you than most, or you're a public servant trying to keep your anonymous political blog on the downlow).
This desensitisation or misappropriation of values, where people's feelings are dispensable and democracy outweighs decency, filters through the media and into other online media and real-world practise where one's moral and professional filters can become clouded by the prevailing opinion du jour (it's happened here before) or the necessity to deliver more, more, more.
This makes for a rather disconcerting disconnect. Graciousness, respect and good works – social lubricants them all – are too often lost in the wake of immediacy, newsworthiness and timeliness; profits, page views and gossipy tabloidisation. As if the public don't distrust journalists enough.
Yours truly,
Girl With a Satchel
3 comments:
Everything ok?
Oh dear, hope you're alright.
Enjoyed your insights.
I think this whole grogsgate anonymity debate is getting out of hand because we're all just waiting for a bandwagon to jump on in lieue of any other controversy.
It's so fashionable to have an opinion these days.
Not totally sure how I feel about it but I do think journos need to be increasingly aware of their changing role with new media taking the news reins and exercise a bit more responsibility.
Interesting post. Fact or fiction or somewhere in between???
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