Blogs Good. Media Bad.

I'm not really up for much diarist blogging right now (such an entertaining lifestyle I'm leading right now), so I'm resorting to 'Plan B', namely rehashing the work of other blogs.

I read this highly pro-blogging article on my favourite news source (The SMH) earlier today. I just liked this little excerpt. Prof. Halliday's comment is a great one, and typical of what I'd expect from a Professor.

In Western nations, blogging has grown in popularity as public trust in the mainstream media has declined. Much of what passes for debate in the Australian press can be called "corkscrew journalism", a term that originated in the 1940 film The Philadelphia Story, directed by George Cukor. According to Fred Halliday, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, the phrase is defined as "instant comment, bereft of research or originality, leading to a cycle of equally vacuous, staged polemics between columnists who have been saying the same thing for the past decade or more".

Doesn't this sound like most of Australia's leading commentators? Endless point-scoring and ill-informed rants against "elites", the "Left" and the "Right" are constant features of mainstream punditry. It's no wonder the major newspapers are in terminal circulation decline.

The arrogance of the commentariat was on full display in August when the New York Times columnist David Brooks said on American TV: "One of the things I've found in life is that politicians are a lot more sincere than us journalists and we are more sincere than the people that read and watch us." Could there be a better argument for his early retirement? If Brooks was unaware of how the general public viewed the media - worse than the dodgiest real estate agent - he'd been spending too much time with political insiders in Washington, DC.

Yes, politicians are the most sincere people I've ever met¡

You can read the full article here.