The 5 most annoying discussions
Journalist-blogger Alexandre Gamela (O Lago/The Lake) has completed a series of posts about five topics in online/digital journalism that he deems the most irritating:
- Is Twitter Journalism?
- Death of the Blogosphere
- Citizen Journalism
- Bloggers vs. Journalists
- The Death of Newspapers
I certainly agree that I am dead sick of all of these! Are you?
Well, I agree they’re annoying in the sense that they’re mainly solved and yet people keep arguing them. However, because some of the people still arguing them are influential, unfortunately we have to keep tossing them around.
The recent rash of paywall lunacy is one example. To me it is starkly, irrefutably obvious that paywalls are just wrong, and yet every day last week there was some new article extolling their virtues. So the fight continues.
February 7, 2009 at 12:34 pm[...] O Lago via Teaching Online Journalism. Bookmark [...]
February 7, 2009 at 12:54 pm6. Paywalls
February 7, 2009 at 1:54 pm7. It’s Google’s Fault
8. Linking
9. Comments
7.5. Google should pay restitution for driving traffic to my news site … Wait a minute!
February 7, 2009 at 2:52 pm[...] so dramatically that execs are still running from cover. And judging by the grumpy postings of Alexandre Gamela, they still don’t get it. « [...]
February 7, 2009 at 3:26 pm@Megan Taylor – Excellent additions to the list!
@Tim Burden – I know, I know … I’ve been amazed at the stupidity in these chest-thumping proclamations of “Make them pay!” Nobody’s gonna pay. Geez, still clueless after all these years.
February 7, 2009 at 5:16 pmI agree … all of these are super annoying. I’ll add some of my own super-annoying questions/topics/comments I’m sick of. (A bit different than yours but in the same spirit.) I’ve also included my own responses or at least the ones I say under my breath while walking away.
1. Why would someone care what I had for lunch? (in regards to Twitter, of course.) (Yes, but it’s about connecting, and people connect over the mundane at least at first.)
2. Why would I want to link to my competition. (Because your job is to give your readers the best information, even if it’s not from you.)
3. I’ll post after I finish my story. (No, post now; write your story later.)
4. I’m a real journalist, so I just don’t buy this new media stuff. (Yes, I’m a real journalist, too, but I realize it’s not 1975.)
5. I don’t have enough time to read blogs. (You don’t have enough time not to.)
February 8, 2009 at 3:36 pmCommonly, debates framed as “X is Y?” tend to be heated, popular and… stupid. “Humanities”, though, are prone to that kind of framing. I can’t imagine a medicine journal opening a debate on “are bones skin?” or a construction magazine opening a debate on “are doors windows?”
February 8, 2009 at 4:28 pmI’ve just got to throw in another vote for paid content on that list.
February 8, 2009 at 4:40 pm@Marcelo Soares – You are right, but it seems journalists love to say “X is not journalism!” and “Journalism is not Y!” The strange part is that often no one else (other than journalists) cares if it is or isn’t.
February 8, 2009 at 4:58 pmThat was a great series of posts, and thanks for linking to it, Mindy. Alexandre’s logic and brevity are refreshing. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with him, so the arguments aren’t dead yet.
I’m afraid the same is true with paywalls (bad idea) and comments (if reporters and editors participated more, Neanderthal comments would be less common).
February 8, 2009 at 8:06 pm@Mark Dodge Medlin – Yes, the comments problems might be the “broken windows syndrome”: When the neighborhood starts looking run-down and trashy, crime and vandalism increase.
February 8, 2009 at 8:53 pmCan we move paid content to the top of the list?
February 9, 2009 at 3:36 pm[...] Over at Mindy McAdams’ Teaching Online Journalism, a list is being compiled of the most annoying journalism discussions. [...]
February 9, 2009 at 3:37 pmAnd they come back around about every six months. They’re like hairballs or something.
February 9, 2009 at 7:33 pm[...] Top5 series turned out to be quite a hit, thanks to references in other blogs, like Mindy McAdams’, so i’ll take this opportunity to put the list in one [...]
February 10, 2009 at 10:39 am[...] En Teaching Online Journalism indican los cinco debates más pesados sobre web 2.0 y medios: [...]
February 13, 2009 at 4:10 am<>
I got over that hurdle fairly quickly. I figure if I was encouraging my blog readers to check out a newspaper article, I am promoting newspapers in general as a credible source.
February 20, 2009 at 8:49 pm