Have A Very Bloggy 2008
December 31, 2007 | Blogging,Guest blogger,Guest post,Journalism
Hello and a Happy Hogmanay to all readers of Deep Muck Big Rake. I’m Adam Tinworth of One Man & His Blog, and I’m another one of those blogging journalists that’s doing the rounds right now. And you’re stuck with me for your final post here of 2007. And I’m stuck with writing a post that no-one will read, because they’re too busy getting drunk, or recovering from a hangover, to be bothered with the interwebs. Ah, well. Never mind. Writing stuff nobody reads is what journalists are used to, goddamit! It’s a tradition!
So, let’s be traditional about this. Let’s do a “look back at the year” post. It’s what most publications do at this time of the year, after all. Why? Well, they’re easy, and you can knock them off in a morning before heading off to a boozy pre-Christmas lunch and an extended Christmas holiday while the sub-editors try and turn it into something readable during your holidays.
And what a year 2007’s been. I’ve been blogging since 2001, and blogging seriously since 2003. In those early days, a blogging journalist was a pretty rare creature. In the year just gone, they’re everywhere. And I mean everywhere. You can barely go to a magazine or newspaper website these days without being invited to read some hack or other’s latest musings on the day’s events.
Now, let’s be honest. Not all of these blogs are created equal. Some of them are pretty clearly done under duress. (“Write a blog post this morning, or we’ll take your whisky away from you.” “Noooooo! Anything but that!”) And some of them are just plain crap. No two ways about it, some hacks just can’t write without subs to pick up their backs. But it’s a start. And the more the journos blog, the more they get the hang of a conversation, rather than just talking at people. Hey, the sheer fact that there are various of us here writing guest posts on Becky’s blog shows that some of us have learned to do the conversation thing.
And it’s not before time.
It’s not been a great year on either side of the Atlantic. The political parties with their greasy little fingers gripping for dear life to the reins of power have often been exposed for the power-hungry, money-crazed charlatans that far too many of their ilk are. But the press in the Anglophone world have often been rather laggardly about holding them to account, or even to catch the public mood. The more that the reading public and the paid reporters of this world engage in dialogue, the more out of touch our politicians will become. And the less their “only talk to the electorate at election time” strategy will pay off.
So, y’know, blogging will save democracy. Or something. Â But, in the end, democracy is just about people talking and deciding stuff. The more we engage in conversation, the more active a democracy is. And that’s why I sincerely hope we’ll see more people from all stripes of life, journalists included, genuinely joining in the conversation this year. Because the last few years have taught us all too well the dangers of a semi-inactive democracy.
Anyway, have a great and, above all, communicative 2008. It can only make the world a better place.Happy New Year!Â
December 31st, 2007 at 2:50 pm
A Very Happy New Year!…
But I couldn’t let 2007, the first year where my working life has been largely centred around blogging, pass without one last post.
…Having a place where I can express ideas, discuss them and, yes, have them challenged is invaluable to me, especi…
December 31st, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Happy new year!!
January 5th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Yeah, what he said!
My hangover has now cleared and I am catching up on Becky’s blog!
Happy New Year!
January 5th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Happy New Year!
January 5th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
See, I said no-one would read this over New Year’s… :-)
January 7th, 2008 at 8:50 am
I read it Adam!
February 8th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
[…] Adam at One Man and his Blog is a business journalist across the ocean. He’s got lots of great information about journalism and blogging, and he’s all over the Internet. He makes me laugh, and not just because he talks about quid, hacks and Hogmanay. He wrote Have A Very Bloggy 2008. […]