An interesting commentary in the bloggers vs MSM (press gallery) argument via The Hollowmen.
Ian: I thought he did rather well.
Tony: Tie worked well as well, bowled, front foot.
Ian: Yeah, a few prickly questions.
Tony: Yeah, bloggers.
Interesting that the view here is of bloggers being prickly; meaning what? Asking the tough questions that the MSN (gallery) won’t? Are there any non MSM ‘real’ or independent bloggers at the PM’s doorstop pressers in Canberra around to be prickly?
Ha!
Yes, Phil, I picked that up too. I interpreted it as a critique of the pack mentality of the press gallery. And maybe the answer to your last question is aspirational.
Or could it be a journalist who can’t think of a prickly one might go trawling through blogs to let bloggers do his thinking for him? just askin’
Doubt it.
As a former member of the Canberra press gallery, I’ll stand up for them and say there was no shortage of prickly questions at doorstops when I was down there. I took the Hollow Men reference to bloggers as a nod to how unpredictable their line of questioning would be if they were sooled on to the PM.
Perhaps it should be:
Although, come to think of it, “bowled” works in print.
I work within State Circle and in my experience bloggers are nearly invisible. The exception is probably Crikey, which sources much of its material either from the dreaded hacks in the press gallery or from tidbits of gossip from departments and staffers. The claims that bloggers or ‘citizen journalists’ will supplant the pros in the MSM are ridiculously overblown, particularly on the Canberra round. The gallery journos and MSM columnists and their anticipated angles on an issue are frequently factored into policy formulation. When a story is breaking, the pollies and their media staff have their MSM print and broadcast contacts on speeddial, unless the gallery gets to them first. How does a blogger compete with that? How many bloggers are getting backgrounded over coffee at Aussies? If you’ve got something you want out there, why not have a drink with a whip-smart insider whose copy will reach anyone who’s interested and which the bloggers will recycle for their output anyway?
It was an interesting reference that could have been read any way and clearly was judging by our interpretations in this thread.
@Tony yeah, I reckon I probably misheard that. Funny.
And partly just because bloggers is a funny word. Sometimes that’s all there is to it.
I think ‘bloggers’ also has a popular air of crazed loners holed up in a room somewhere with a ‘puter, a set of weird obsessions, and possibly some social skill deficits.
Which, lets face it, is mostly true.
Present company excepted, of course!