The Twitterverse has gone off like a pokie machine at jackpot time after popular blogger Grogs Gamut was outed by The Australian’s James Massola. The latter, who had known GG’s identity for the past year, appeared to be under orders from an editor looking to pick a fight with the social media vanguard and spouting the eternal standby ‘public interest’ test (which can be read as “we’re interested, so you should be too”).
Just about every tweep and his or her dog has had a say on this issue today, ranging from self-defensiveness among some MSM journos to colourful invective from the more ‘iconoclastic’ bloggers.
As much as I agree with others that this was typically cheap and self-serving payback from The Australian, it still looks like a very smart media strategy by that particular organ. In one stroke, they have rallied the blogosphere and twitterverse around their masthead, even if that mob looks like a crowd outside the Bastille, wanting to put Mr Massola’s head inside a guillotine.
Put it this way. I would wager that the two stories in today’s Australian relating to Mr Massola’s scoop (the initial shock horror revelation and then the obligatory ‘A firestorm has erupted…’ follow-up) would have been the most hit-upon stories on that newspaper’s website in the past 24 hours.
Think what you like about News Ltd, but like every media organisation, they are in the business of attracting eyeballs to their clients’ advertisements. And in an age when people are drifting away from the mainstream en masse, anything that engages participants of the newer forms of media – even in a negative way – is a plus for the dead trees people.
After all, the worst thing that can happen to you as a journalist is not being hated by your readership. The worst thing is not being read. So if I were Mr Massola and his editor right now, I would be feeling that it had been a good day’s work. And if you wanted to express your displeasure with Mr Massola, the best approach might be to ignore him.
12 Comments
Dogma · September 27, 2010 at 7:30 AM
Bloody hell. You're right, this was all for money. Grog could possibly lose his job because The Australian wanted false hits for advertising revenue.
Australian Tea Party · September 27, 2010 at 8:34 AM
Greg Jericho losing his job, which is unlikely since he sucks on the public tit, would be more due to his wasting taxpapers' money during working hours.
He's overpaid to do some kind of “public service” job, not run propaganda for the ALP on Twitter. Unless that really was his job which is a much bigger and better story.
Terangeree · September 27, 2010 at 8:54 AM
Mr A. T. Party,
Do you know what level of the public service Mr Jericho is employed at, or what his salary is?
If you don't, then you can't with any authority state that he's either overpaid or underpaid.
Nor do you know at what time of day or night he writes his blog or sparks up on Twitter.
Unless you have any facts to back up your assertions, it is probably best that you keep your fingers away from the keyboard.
Bobalot · September 27, 2010 at 9:01 AM
Conservatism in Australia is becoming more and more like Conservatism in America, where they simply make up shameless lies about people without a shred of proof and then endlessly repeat those lies.
Australian Tea Party makes several claims without a shred of evidence. No doubt he has repeated these lies several times on other blogs.
Andrew Elder · September 27, 2010 at 9:14 AM
The worst thing you can say to a journalist is that they're inferior to bloggers. Every time Massola puts a piece up, post that it's not as good as Grog's latest. He'll shriek until they cut comments off his pieces, just like Paul Kelly did. Now that Glenn Milne has been boned they could do worse but hire Grog themselves.
Anonymous · September 27, 2010 at 10:46 AM
At least the TeaParty is transparent. Silence all dissent. Lie with no sense of shame. Make wild accusations. All as they claim the moral high ground. Hypocrits.
Anonymous · September 27, 2010 at 10:54 AM
“And if you wanted to express your displeasure with Mr Massola, the best approach might be to ignore him.”
So that is exactly what I did, Mr Denmore, and will continue to do so. Firstly I gave up buying NewsLimited papers and secondly we've given up its online sites.
I got all the information I needed on Massola's article from reading online blogs and comments today.
I think the Australian has turned away more future readers today than it has won.
macca · September 27, 2010 at 11:31 AM
I would like to think that the blogosphere would be respectful enough to call the Australian Tea Party by its original name; The Australian Tea Baggers…jiggle, jiggle, jiggle. And yes, I do mean in the context you're all thinking of.
An afterthought;
it' gotta be hard on the knees and thighs.
Craig Thomler · September 27, 2010 at 1:33 PM
Mr or Ms Australian Tea Party,
Can you please verify your full name, employer, salary and duties in order for other readers to understand your qualifications to make the claims in your comment.
Anonymous · September 27, 2010 at 10:48 PM
And? Sorry this should have been bleeding obvious to everyone. This is all the media does. Troll bait for pageviews, circulation and ratings. Cause outrage, receive advertising revenue. It's the act that the ABC does the same that really disgusts me.
Mr Denmore · September 27, 2010 at 11:26 PM
I'm not sure it really is obvious to a lot of people, anonymous. What does seem fairly clear is that News Ltd, in its characteristically paranoid and tribal way, is defensive about the threat from new media and has found a way, by attacking a popular blogger, to drive traffic to its masthead.
Stop Murdoch · September 28, 2010 at 1:08 AM
I never click through if I see a link to any News Ltd page. No need.
Like Anonymous, I got everything I needed to know about this story from other blogs and sites like Crikey, Grog's etc…
It's not hard to do. It would be interesting to know roughly what percentage of viewers can'tresist the urge to click through. You may be surprised.