Tag Archives: Journalism

No pay, no ads – explaining my blogging approach

EU Journalists - CC / Flickr

EU Journalists - CC / Flickr

An interesting debate has broken out in Brussels this week over the declining number of accredited journalists that follow the work of the EU institutions. Charlemagne and Leigh Phillips have differing approaches to the issue, and Julien has a visceral blogging take on these matters. Today on Twitter the debate has been taken a step further, raising the question about what role bloggers can play in this – in some way making up for a decline in journalist numbers, or even – as @JanAlbrecht states – providing a public service, even paid.

Thanks, but no thanks…

Essentially if I wanted to become a journalist – be that in print or online – then there would be ways and means of doing that. I would have to improve my writing style and research methods for a start, but it would be a viable career route. But I don’t actually want to do that, because I want to write about the things that are of interest to me, here and now, the things that are on my mind. I reckon I am better as a web campaigner and trainer than I ever would be as a journalist, hence why blogging is a sideline.

All I have to make this blog work is my independence and my knowledge, and that creates the reputation of the blog – and having built that reputation over almost 5 years I dare not endanger that. It’s all I have.

I state my name, my views, my opinions very clearly. I feel empowered to have a look into basically any political issue, and free to frame my pieces according to my ideological take on matters. That would be called into question if I were paid for what I do.

The same goes for ads – I don’t want to even give the impression that I’m somehow linked to whatever financial interests would be portrayed in those advertisements and, anyway, the pittance it would earn me (because my reader numbers are between 600 and 1000 individual visitors a day) is not really worthwhile either.

So that, in short, encompasses my approach… Now back to the day job (which is manic at the moment – hence light blogging!)

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The Nick Pisa example: get your attack in first and Google does the rest

google-logoOne of the major frustrations about the UK mainstream media’s coverage of EU affairs is that even if an article is eventually corrected on a newspaper’s website, or a correction appears in the printed press, the damage is already done – when it comes to the European Union it’s all too often write incorrectly first, and then maybe think later. So if you’re someone like me who wants the British population to understand the EU better, what should you do?

Inadvertently I’ve managed to stumble upon half an answer. On Tuesday this week I was hopping mad about an article on the Daily Mail’s website with a heading stating that the EU was responsible for a court case banning crucifixes in Italian schools. In my fit of anger I wrote that the journalist who penned the article – Nick Pisa – was a f**kwit and a thicko. As people have pointed out in the comments, and indeed as I too know, subeditors are responsible for the headlines, not the journalists themselves. But the article appeared in his name, in a newspaper that regularly twists facts about the EU to suit its ends, so I reckoned it was fair game.

By reacting in such a forceful manner I ended up doing to Nick Pisa what the Daily Mail always does about the European Union – I got the attack in first, and Google has handled the rest. Now, at the time of writing, my blog entry branding Pisa a f**kwit is ranked 3rd in Google when you search for his name. That’s not really especially pleasant if you’re Nick Pisa.

So the simple message is this: if you’re frustrated by the rubbish nature of UK newspaper reporting, on whatever issue, get yourself a blog, get yourself a Twitter account, design your blog to be Google friendly, and post quick responses using the correct keywords… and Google will handle the rest.

[UPDATE - 23h00 CET, 8.11.09]
Now it’s gone even further – I’m 2nd in Google when searching for ‘f**kwit’. Not sure I want my blog to have that accolade, but it’s quite amusing.

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Nick Pisa, Daily Mail journalist, lazy f**kwit

Screen shot 2009-11-03 at 18.29.53

It’s not often that something makes me angry enough to resort to language befitting of Devil’s Kitchen, but Googling for news of the recent European Court of Human Rights case about crucifixes in Italian schools brought me to this article in the Daily Mail with the headline shown above (they might subsequently edit the headline).

No, you lazy, ignorant f**kwit of a journalist Nick Pisa, THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS IS NOT PART OF THE EU. It is the Human Rights Court of the Council of Europe. It’s not the EU. Get it? Thicko. You could have found that out in, oh, all of 10 seconds by checking with Google and coming across the court’s page on Wikipedia.

And people always whine that blogs are inaccurate and disreputable… I maintain that this blog is a lot more accurate than the UK press on European political matters.

[UPDATE - 22h00 CET]
The Daily Mail have now changed the headline, and @Phelim on Twitter has informed me that the journalist in question is blaming the London sub-editors.

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