Props to the Walkley Foundation and the MEAA for organising a conference in Sydney on the future of journalism. As Margaret Simons writes in Crikey (pay for view):
The future of journalism is the subject of much discussion and experimentation overseas, but until recently the debate has been largely absent among Australian journalists.
The Walkley Foundation can take a great deal of credit for changing this situation — putting on the Future of Journalism gig, and also using the Walkley Magazine as a forum for new media.
The result, of course, is a confrontation with a future that is both frightening and exciting. Past time, though, for the Australian journalistic profession to be getting to grips with the issues. The issues are not only to do with the business of media. They are to do with the ideals of journalism. And in the new world it will be clear that media and journalism are not necessarily the same thing.
Rachel Hills went along, and has a report on the issues discussed at New Matilda, while Margaret Simons in the free edition of Crikey reports on her conversation with British media commentator Roy Greenslade.
They’ll be a “convergence” alright…just like there was pre-Iraq invasion. Huff Post is half-decent but already becoming far too ad & info-tainment-based. Soon govts will bend to the moguls & their money & whims…and we’ll all be extinguised if we don’t toe the line…or if we stop contributing to the harvest they reap their benefits from.
They’ll always be a group of “basic” educated voters who can be swung on sexual tittilation, “the product YOU MUST now have”, moral panic campaigns, “here’s the latest idol to emulate, w*nk over, then knife” & “sports fever, sports fever, sports fever”. It’s how these stories are spoken determines whether or not we’ll see “The Thames foaming with blood like the Tiber” as Nabakov mentioned on another thread.
Competing corporate & dynastic interests spread their ideas like weeds across Nation-State borders…they feed from fertiliser - such as alternative bloggers & Uni researchers & amateur marketeers - those who themselves borrow the herbs & mix potions that cause “desires” & create addictive & potent “myths”…& once these recipes are stolen under the guise of “intellectual property rights & patents & copyright protection” they are transformed by the Corporations into “needs”, based on manipulated supply & demand…& greed for gaining even more influence…and much of the sales & message machine, the media, becomes a reflection & echo of their titanic battles & fortune(ate) alliances.
Far too many, intentially ‘dumbed down’, hold their groins in fear & lust as they swallow the latest pap & urge their kids to do same under the sickly light of the glowing pyramids…& the so called “intelligentsia” cock like cockrels in the dawning of their own “influence” & “theories” & policy formation”.
And the mutating weeds grow ever more invasive and resistant and edible…taking US on a path we can barely imagine…their strength further boosted by the compost that bred them, made from the ‘Survival genes’ & the fuel that burns in the grandiose mind…& the curious soul…
And like the plague that drove them from their caves, they rage…bellowing into the starry night…and self-mutilate in the frenzy of unexpected guilt as they wear uniforms from their “seducers” & urinate on the many nodding & obedient heads that serve them…& then appease their confused & paranoid minds by touching the smoothness & edges of their gold & tangible assets in their vaults…sound-proofed to the screams of the results of their “need for security & unification” wars, played out on a enormous living chess set.
And then these human weeds, having transformed into self-proclaimed GODS, stare out from their various ‘durable’ pyramids into the “valley of waste” w/ a plan to turn it into something viable…whilst recalling odd memories of how IT came to be…not realising IT has already mutated into a new form of life…that strikes them down in the midst of their contemplation & nostalgia.
Recorded & observed by the cloned weeds infesting the OTHERWORLDS. Using the media.
Still, one MUST have their space to act out their dreams, promote their ideas, mix their potions, meet the “unexpected” & themselves…& have acts of catharsis. Who am i, fertiliser, to winge. Symbiotic relationships make the world go around…
I read Prof Ross Greenslade’s column on this in SMH 01/May http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/journalists-to-share-their-space/2008/04/30/1209234954732.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
and commented on it on Politics Australia http://politicsau.com/view_topic.php?id=132&forum_id=6
My comment isn’t any different in tenor from one I wrote for LP prior to Summit2020. In periods of frequent and rapid discontinuous change, it’s very difficult indeed to see what effects those changes will eventually have. Matthew Boulton, who could see applications for his partner James Watt’s steam engine beyond any its inventor could see, was blind to the potential of his own important innovation - gas lighting.
In the fields in which the written word was paramount, the last major change in technology - Gutenberg’s printing press - eventually (and very effectively, in some N European states inc England) removed the key people & institutions that supported the old one - monastaries and monks - with approx the same time lag between Caxton’s press & Henry VIII’s Dissolution as there was between Gutenberg’s press and Luther’s attacks on monasteries (c80 years).
I found this observation by Greenslade rather curious (and probably illuminating):
Almost as curious as I found his coach- to train platform analogy!
Furthermore, when the FEW dominate the old media…& begin to swallow up the new…there is a stifling of speech based on fear…fear by many who desire a job in the industry that they will be ostracized, blackballed & SHUT DOWN…find it difficult to earn a living…or search for those silk sheeted futures. Others might feel the SPHINX will turn its glare upon them…so they tremble & keep their REAL thoughts to themselves.
Harmful stuff in a NEW AGE. Just lets the weeds grow & grow & grow…& if the weeds have been feeding for far too long on poisonous fertiliser…then maybe having the courage to tell them so & offer them REAL sustenance might help transform them into something more nutritious for society.
Some even standup out of frustration & use WORDS like “Good night, and good luck”.
It shouldn’t have to get to that. But too often it does.
Still, anything’s possible….particularly if we put cynicism aside for awhile & go about fertilising the best way we can. Perhaps the digital/internet revolution can create new socio-economic & cultural pathways that are beneficial to all & sundry.
Certainly that invention of the printing press & the fact that Luther & others were able to shift the message from the pontificator at the pulpit & throne…& into the hands of others (as DeeCee mentions)…who then had the OPPORTUNITY to interpret the Bible…& other myths/stories/doctrines for themselves…
& in turn tell those transformed stories/messages thru a new medium…including books & guides…eventually newspapers…even revealing APPROACHES & SKILLS that were previously kept for the privileged…or under lock & key…or to make big bucks for the few…this new way of looking at the World & delivering messages certainly assisted the development of “the self”, the sense of ‘I’…made quite a difference…erupting into Mercantalism, Rationalism, Liberalism, forms of capitalist Democracy…& responses to such like Socialism, the women’s suffrage movement…desrire for franchise (the vote)…
perhaps one can become far too cynical when feeling like the World is toppling into the Maelstrom…& forget the lessons of history…preferring to feel BOXED…kept in an IRON CAGE…powerless…muttering inconsequentials…exploiting others to do your message delivering…or hoping for supernatural intervention.
Rather than having the courage to take things into your own hands…like some Bloggers…& meet the weeds head to head…share ideas…a bring about something NEW & IMPROVED.
I found O’Reilly’s interview w/ Clinton…interesting.
DeeCee, insightful comment…but i reckon the television has also changed significantly the way we perceive the written word.
The future of my brand of Gonzo journalism will be - on indulgence - be seen from now on at pro2Buttdarling blogger and buttdarling myspace from now on ever since live journal pulled the plug on me.
Guns don’t kill people - Blog’s kill people
Just before Insiders ended this morning, Andrew Bolt just had to get his two cents in. He dissed Rudd for apologizing to the Stolen Generation “which didn’t exist” and for acknowledging global warming which “stopped ten years ago”. What a dolt. Barrie Cassidy should be ashamed, and should close down his programme for his own protection.
Ah. Andrew Bolt: the Australian news media’s own Shaun Micallef (except Micallef’s humour is intentional.
I gave up on The Insiders on the day that Bolt declared John W. Howard to be the “President” of Australia, and none of the other senior journos on the panel picked him up on the gaffe.
So much for high-quality flagship programmes…