Is the blogosphere where the best of journalistic standards reside? No. Probably the worst—and the reason I was turned off blogs in the early 2000s: the sort of gutter-press stuff that fuels weekly trash magazines, hearsay, gossip, and that principle of guilty until proved innocent. Over the last two months, I have seen a lot of this, once attacking a friend who expressed an opinion, and, more recently, attacking the newly crowned Miss Universe New Zealand. I even had an opinion piece carried on a news site as an article without my express permission last week.
   I can expect that the Miss Universe Organization will treat Laural Barrett’s negative press from the foreign media as a simple nullity, and, as for my friend Jennifer Siebel, the mainstream media and blogosphere have moved on to newer targets. Even the person who said I could not spell because I used the word defence seems to have moved on (oh, that is what constitutes an ‘argument’ from this class of person). I believe the next story may be whether David Hicks was the father of Anna Nicole’s baby, or whatever tickles this group’s fancy as they indulge in the trough.
   I make these comments after reading Kristine Lowe’s blog from her base in Oslo (referred by Media Culpa). Kristine writes how bloggers interviewed by other media outlets now blog their full quotes, the context and their position, because they are afraid of being misquoted and a misjudgement made by readers.
   I don’t blame them. In 2007, we expect more transparency, yet journalistic standards seem to be dropping so that blogs are one way for some to set the record straight.
   But why are these bloggers even in defence mode? Why do some of us, who express a valid opinion, have to counter the presumption of guilt that some media outlets, and some bloggers, insist on forcing on us?
   While I have always supported the idea of free speech for all, it is clear that our education system needs to improve. Civility is absent in so many blogs; arguments are regularly ignored in favour of personal attacks (the comments during the week my friend Jennifer was attacked are indicative). I remember having left high school with suitable skills; today, I have to wonder.
   Tomorrow’s Schools has done its duty in New Zealand. (Damn, I agree with the Greens again. That’s three times in the last eight months.) I do not even know what unit standards are. I just know that when I was at school, I passed or I failed, and I was given a notion of personal responsibility and a sense of being part of a collective. Perfect skills, one would think, for a wired virtual world. So why do I not see much of that, short of the helpful types on helpdesk forums and open-source boffins who truly give of themselves? Will the geek inherit the earth, as has been predicted?
   Asking for a reader to hold a subject with some respect, giving one the benefit of the doubt, is not a big ask. If that was the case, then some of the trash magazines would never sell, nor would the tabloids. Let’s face it: some of the media outlets rely on these worst traits of human nature.
   And we would do well to notice it when we are suckered in to their worlds, and steer ourselves from being taken in. They may sell an extra copy or two through the manufacture of scandal, but we can counter it by retaining an independent mind.
   I hope that bloggers, and others, won’t need to continually defend themselves against those unable to think—yet are able to scream at the top of their lungs on blogs and forums, and, God help us, in the mainstream media. The world does not seem to be heading toward that ideal though. In the words of the old Tony Christie song ‘Avenues and Alleyways’:

Everybody’s wheeling, everybody's stealing,
All the low are living a high.
Every city’s got ’em:
Can we ever stop ’em?
Some of us are gonna try.

   Some of us have the task to open others’ eyes.
   I thought I was in a personal version of The Persuaders, but maybe I am in The Protectors. Posted by Jack Yan, 10:03  permalink

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