Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Leveson Inquiry and blogging.

The Leveson Inquiry has thrown up some interesting tit bits as celebrities, journalists and grieved parties come before it. A narrative of the state of our media for those with a genuine interest and an addition to the tapestry of day-time televison. The ultimate soap and an extra episode of “Have I got news…”

The blogosphere has received little coverage, at least until a day ago. Richard Wallace editor at the Daily Mirror came out with this gem when asked about bloggers. "The out and out cowboys – I don't see in the long term they can survive … people want information that is competent and true."

A confection of ideas to feed off here then. People want information that is competent and true but he seems to have side-stepped the irony that the whole point of Leveson is to question the mainstream journalists' application of this in the first place.

Blogs can be amateurish with poor prose, questionable logic and inaccuracies. The fact is that, collectively, they are the grain of sand in the oyster. The number of authors, readers and commentators is itself a set of checks and balances. Something the print media lost track of. The blogosphere has democratised the publication of facts, views and opinions when the mass media was doing the reverse.