Most, in fact, all, of the readers who came to this blog foolishly believing they were going to get advice on managing their money have abandoned it in disgust leaving mostly a band of (undoubtedly butterfly loving) “chicks” who are impressed by Ms Warwick’s name dropping and waffling on about how fabulous she and her friends are http://blogs.news.com.au/squanderlust/index.php/news/comments/when_i_grow_up_i_want_to_be/ and a few guys who want to impress her with their self-assessed financial know how.

The thing is it obviously gets hits, regardless of the quality of the writing and the content; the last post has over 100 comments. What worried me more than this hard-hitting piece on the tragedy of losing a pair of designer sunnies were the entries where she failed to do enough research to even realise she was spruiking “wraps” a kind of real estate loan sharking http://blogs.news.com.au/squanderlust/index.php/news/comments/money_secrets_of_the_rich/ Not that News Limited felt any responsibility to remove the post or even distance themselves from her irresponsible comments.

What was that about not conforming to male ideals, again?

Many thanks,
Stephen

Journalists (for mass media) can’t really break free and become bloggers (in the sense of being at liberty to express how they feel about a subject) due to the editorial control in the newspapers. I remember when the Tom Cruise/YouTube video came out and one Sydney journalist couldn’t write about it in his newspaper blog because it was deemed too controversial, so he did the next best thing, sent it out via email. Then again, like newspapers, blogs can be biased, and bloggers can censor others’ comments. It happens. My pet hate on the web at this moment is radical feminist blogging, where any view contrary to theirs isn’t published. It’s ironic: feminists censoring other women.

Boxed wine

I’m not a big fan of hypocrisy, although like all humans I’m occasionally guilty of it. If that put me on a high horse, so be it.

What stories have I broken? Lately? Nil. That’s not my job. However when I worked with ABC Radio I did occasionally break stories — though not many, because at the ABC that’s the newsroom’s job, not the program producers’, and the demarcation was made quite clear. That, perhaps, is part the problem: some journalists seem to think that only they have the right to break stories.

Where are the bloggers on the front line in Iraq? They’re called “soldiers” and Red Crescent workers, and have been writing interesting stuff. And there’s plenty of good Australian political writing in blogs — I’ll do a list some time. It’s written in the style of news writing — but that’s the point. We’re talking about new forms here.

Trying to scab drinks.
Thank you.

Just for starters: How is Ms Warwick a “poor woman”, when she acts offended at being called for scabbing drinks at some top-end bar, and bullshitting about her job? Give a girl a break, per-LEASE!

I won’t bother with the rest.
I don’t have time.