Word-whore. I write 'em. I talk 'em. Information, politics, media, and the cybers. I drink. I use bad words. All publication is a political act. All communication is propaganda. All art is pornography. All business is personal. All hail Eris! Vive les poissons rouges sauvages!
It’s Thursday, so we need nominations for “Cnut of the Week” for tonight’s edition of Stilgherrian Live (9.30pm Sydney time).
It’s the same rules as usual. We’re after people who’ve been in the news this week, futilely trying to hold back the tide of digital change.
Somehow I don’t think we’ll be short of nominees this week. Who do you nominate, and why?
It’s being a fairly intense fortnight, last week and this, so not much time for lengthy posts here. My Twitter stream has material every day, though.
As you perhaps already know, I reckon that Leena Jangjanya (ลีนา จังจรรจา) is the most beautiful, most sexy woman in all of Thailand. I’m therefore thrilled to discover that she has a new hairdo and is running for Governor of Bangkok.
That Leena runs her own cosmetics business as well as being a prominent labour rights lawyer should hold her in good stead. But, my Beautiful Leena, you need to update your website and destroy last year’s posters.
“Oh no, here we go again!” I can hear you say. “Stilgherrian’s kicking off about ‘the awful journalists’ again.”
No. This is just me pondering five stories about journalism this week. Grab yourself a cuppa and follow the links before tackling my discussion, because this’ll be a long, meandering essay — one in which I’m exploring my thoughts rather than reaching any conclusions. Yet.
OK, back? Cool. Here we go…
Stilgherrian’s links for 12 September 2008 through 14 September 2008, arranged thanks to a raspberry muffin:
[I wrote this essay “on spec” for Crikey a fortnight ago, just when the Fairfax journalists were going on strike. It wasn’t published: Crikey had commissioned other yarns about this story, and some bloke called Obama had just given a speech. I’ll publish it now because it informs an essay I’m writing today and it needs to be online first.]
Australia’s Fairfax media empire is sacking 550 staff, including 120-odd editorial staff, and the journalists went on strike. Well, off you go, petals. You can stamp your feet and turn blue in the face too, for all I care — because a strike is just plain wrong.
The MEAA‘s Chris Warren reckoned the anger behind the strike was driven by not just the jobs cuts, “but the clear view that there’s no strategy behind the job cuts.” Agreed. As Crikey reported, Fairfax’s message to staff didn’t articulate any kind of vision, and didn’t even mention journalism.
But journalists haven’t exactly provided vision either.