But this example from an estate agent flogging a house in Oxfordshire just cracked me up. And to think these 'professionals' take a pretty sizable fee for this kind of toot (thanks Alan).
Estate agents
Ok, so people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and I have made my share of mistakes in my time as a journo.
But this example from an estate agent flogging a house in Oxfordshire just cracked me up. And to think these 'professionals' take a pretty sizable fee for this kind of toot (thanks Alan).
But this example from an estate agent flogging a house in Oxfordshire just cracked me up. And to think these 'professionals' take a pretty sizable fee for this kind of toot (thanks Alan).
Hull Daily Mail and Smeargate
Sorry for the use of ....gate in the title - it's the lazy sub in me!
Fascinated to read about the Hull Daily Mail's unique tactic for fighting back against hyperlocal rival www.hu17.net - to smear its creator as a pornographer in chief.
I love the moral outrage in all this and the lazy attitude which typifies regional media these days. Instead of using Northcliffe's enormous resources to take the competition head-on it opts for a Sunday red-top style sting.
I particularly like the repeated mention of the pictures of young people in the town - some of which have been take by web designer Paul Smith!!!! Clearly that's a major issue and we should light torches and carry pitchforks to drive this monster from our town.
Of course, he's doing nothing illegal so maybe we shouldn't. What's that you say? Until recently all regional media knowingly carried adverts from prostitutes? Completely different and unrelated to the matter in hand. Harrumph.
I have some sympathy with the regional media. They (we perhaps - for I was there) were slow to react to the web and constantly five years behind and they battle against unfair competition in the form of the licence-fee supported BBC (as does all media in this country).
But come on. Make an effort. Stop spitting the dummy and get back to creating good content that might encourage people to come to you. Get reporters out of the office, stop relying on press releases and PA and don't forget you are part of a community, not in competition with Heat or NOTW.
The only pleasing aspect has been the way the online community has responded so quickly to put the Mail in its place. Way to go commenters.
Fascinated to read about the Hull Daily Mail's unique tactic for fighting back against hyperlocal rival www.hu17.net - to smear its creator as a pornographer in chief.
I love the moral outrage in all this and the lazy attitude which typifies regional media these days. Instead of using Northcliffe's enormous resources to take the competition head-on it opts for a Sunday red-top style sting.
I particularly like the repeated mention of the pictures of young people in the town - some of which have been take by web designer Paul Smith!!!! Clearly that's a major issue and we should light torches and carry pitchforks to drive this monster from our town.
Of course, he's doing nothing illegal so maybe we shouldn't. What's that you say? Until recently all regional media knowingly carried adverts from prostitutes? Completely different and unrelated to the matter in hand. Harrumph.
I have some sympathy with the regional media. They (we perhaps - for I was there) were slow to react to the web and constantly five years behind and they battle against unfair competition in the form of the licence-fee supported BBC (as does all media in this country).
But come on. Make an effort. Stop spitting the dummy and get back to creating good content that might encourage people to come to you. Get reporters out of the office, stop relying on press releases and PA and don't forget you are part of a community, not in competition with Heat or NOTW.
The only pleasing aspect has been the way the online community has responded so quickly to put the Mail in its place. Way to go commenters.
Football fans and the breakdown of society
Alright so the title is slightly over-the-top but football fans are getting on my nerves.
I used to love football. I was a regular at Pride Park and worked my holidays around major championships that England or, more rarely, Scotland were involved in.
But football fans have ruined it for me. Not all of them, but the snarling, vociforous majority who excuse their shocking behaviour by whimpering 'it's because I'm so passionate'. I'm passionate about plenty of things without turning into a cross between Norman Tebbit and the Kray twins.
And I'm not talking about traditional hooligans here. I'm talking about normal people who turn into Neanderthals when their beloved team in mentioned. People who have nice families, hold down good jobs, are involved in their community and don't hold criminal convictions.
They seem to have seen Green Street,thought 'now that's passion' and hold it aloft as an aspirational standard which their middle-class upbringing will never allow them to achieve.
It's the blinkered view on the world that gets me. Their player commits a foul and it's ok. A foul is committed on their player and you can expect frothing at the mouth and death threats against the ref who failed to spot what they could quite plainly see after 12 different camera angles were played at super slowmo over a period of five minutes.
They must know the truth. Deep down the reality of the situation must flash like a beacon but hypocrisy knows no bounds with football fans.
The truth is that Vidic should have been sent off after five minutes of the Carling Cup final, that Shawcross did not commit a horrific foul and that Wayne Bridge does not deserve to be booed just because his best mate had an affair with his (ex?) partner.
Maybe we in the media are to blame. Certainly some of the responsibility rests with us.
Transferring sport from the back pages to the front has resulted in the minute details being picked over and the elevation of sports stars to A List celebs and cultural prophets.
Muppets like Adrian Durham on Talksport excuse bad behaviour and violence as the understandable result of passion and we attack the perception of failure by managers in the same way we attack politicians.
All I know is that I am glad I have rugby and that so far it hasn't gone so far down the wrong road as wendy ball.
I used to love football. I was a regular at Pride Park and worked my holidays around major championships that England or, more rarely, Scotland were involved in.
But football fans have ruined it for me. Not all of them, but the snarling, vociforous majority who excuse their shocking behaviour by whimpering 'it's because I'm so passionate'. I'm passionate about plenty of things without turning into a cross between Norman Tebbit and the Kray twins.
And I'm not talking about traditional hooligans here. I'm talking about normal people who turn into Neanderthals when their beloved team in mentioned. People who have nice families, hold down good jobs, are involved in their community and don't hold criminal convictions.
They seem to have seen Green Street,thought 'now that's passion' and hold it aloft as an aspirational standard which their middle-class upbringing will never allow them to achieve.
It's the blinkered view on the world that gets me. Their player commits a foul and it's ok. A foul is committed on their player and you can expect frothing at the mouth and death threats against the ref who failed to spot what they could quite plainly see after 12 different camera angles were played at super slowmo over a period of five minutes.
They must know the truth. Deep down the reality of the situation must flash like a beacon but hypocrisy knows no bounds with football fans.
The truth is that Vidic should have been sent off after five minutes of the Carling Cup final, that Shawcross did not commit a horrific foul and that Wayne Bridge does not deserve to be booed just because his best mate had an affair with his (ex?) partner.
Maybe we in the media are to blame. Certainly some of the responsibility rests with us.
Transferring sport from the back pages to the front has resulted in the minute details being picked over and the elevation of sports stars to A List celebs and cultural prophets.
Muppets like Adrian Durham on Talksport excuse bad behaviour and violence as the understandable result of passion and we attack the perception of failure by managers in the same way we attack politicians.
All I know is that I am glad I have rugby and that so far it hasn't gone so far down the wrong road as wendy ball.
Starsuckers interview
I met with Chris Atkins - writer and director of the documentary Starsuckers during his visit to the University of Gloucestershire today.
We were offered a screening of the doc and a lengthy Q&A session with the man himself afterwards.
It was a fascinating piece of film about, in my openly bias view, a fascinating industry but it did not portray the media in a good light at all.
Exploiting the fame-hungry parents of toddlers, running false stories, preventing coverage of humanitarian demonstrations, behaving illegally to expose celebrity gossip - and those were just the bits we did see.
Particularly interesting to me was the furore afterwards when the News of the World attempted to sue over the sting operation carried out by Atkins.
In short the NOTW (remember them from the illegal phone taps during the reign of the now chief Tory spin doctor Andy Coulson?) objected to Atkins' sting. This is despite having perpetrated it for motives less in the public interest hundreds of times.
Shame that Charlie Brooker couldn't find time to put the story into Newswipe but he assures us on Twitter that it wasn't a conspiracy!
The Max Clifford footage was gold dust. Who would of thought that a man who earns millions burying stories could be so indiscreet.
I heartily recommend Starsuckers to anyone with a view on media and journalism - stick with the annoying American drawl in the commentary. But be warned you will feel extreme guilt if you donated to Live8 or LiveAid in the last 25 years!
Afterwards I caught up with Chris Atkins for a brief interview about his project. Forgive the quality, it is recorded on a NokiaN95 and edited in Movie Maker (boo).
We were offered a screening of the doc and a lengthy Q&A session with the man himself afterwards.
It was a fascinating piece of film about, in my openly bias view, a fascinating industry but it did not portray the media in a good light at all.
Exploiting the fame-hungry parents of toddlers, running false stories, preventing coverage of humanitarian demonstrations, behaving illegally to expose celebrity gossip - and those were just the bits we did see.
Particularly interesting to me was the furore afterwards when the News of the World attempted to sue over the sting operation carried out by Atkins.
In short the NOTW (remember them from the illegal phone taps during the reign of the now chief Tory spin doctor Andy Coulson?) objected to Atkins' sting. This is despite having perpetrated it for motives less in the public interest hundreds of times.
Shame that Charlie Brooker couldn't find time to put the story into Newswipe but he assures us on Twitter that it wasn't a conspiracy!
The Max Clifford footage was gold dust. Who would of thought that a man who earns millions burying stories could be so indiscreet.
I heartily recommend Starsuckers to anyone with a view on media and journalism - stick with the annoying American drawl in the commentary. But be warned you will feel extreme guilt if you donated to Live8 or LiveAid in the last 25 years!
Afterwards I caught up with Chris Atkins for a brief interview about his project. Forgive the quality, it is recorded on a NokiaN95 and edited in Movie Maker (boo).
Why the BNP gets coverage
Great article on the front of The Times illustrated by this superb picture:
It says it all really. Journalist attends press conference and is viciously attacked.
What is particularly strong is the lengths the henchmen are going to to ensure that not only is Dominic Kennedy of The Times ejected but hurt in the process.
The use of the nose grab highlights this perfectly, it being a move favoured more by Daniel Day-Lewis's psychotic character in The Gangs of New York.
Even when people are disaffected with many aspects of this country, you would hope they could not be tempted to vote for this 'party'.
But then who is providing a credible alternative?
The Greens can't be bothered to promote themselves beyond the perception that they are the political wing of Greenpeace , the Lib Dems are suffering from the Kennedy debacle and Campbell experiment and then general impression that it ain't worth the effort.
Why can't we have parties who believe in something and stand up for it?
Instead we get three main parties wooing voters by changing to suit the climate in order to be elected. That's not what I want.
I want people to stand up and say 'This is what I believe' so I can decide if I agree with them. But all I have, which exception of the BNP, is people saying 'What do you believe and we'll agree with you'.
Thing is, I would not vote BNP even if it were to guarantee that the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse could be persuaded to never to return to this mortal realm.
It says it all really. Journalist attends press conference and is viciously attacked.What is particularly strong is the lengths the henchmen are going to to ensure that not only is Dominic Kennedy of The Times ejected but hurt in the process.
The use of the nose grab highlights this perfectly, it being a move favoured more by Daniel Day-Lewis's psychotic character in The Gangs of New York.
Even when people are disaffected with many aspects of this country, you would hope they could not be tempted to vote for this 'party'.
But then who is providing a credible alternative?
The Greens can't be bothered to promote themselves beyond the perception that they are the political wing of Greenpeace , the Lib Dems are suffering from the Kennedy debacle and Campbell experiment and then general impression that it ain't worth the effort.
Why can't we have parties who believe in something and stand up for it?
Instead we get three main parties wooing voters by changing to suit the climate in order to be elected. That's not what I want.
I want people to stand up and say 'This is what I believe' so I can decide if I agree with them. But all I have, which exception of the BNP, is people saying 'What do you believe and we'll agree with you'.
Thing is, I would not vote BNP even if it were to guarantee that the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse could be persuaded to never to return to this mortal realm.
Just a quickie
Thanks to one of my students for bringing this to my attention.
It has made me use term ROFL for only the second time:
It has made me use term ROFL for only the second time:
Google Buzz
I could be wrong - I have been frequently - but Google Buzz may be one of the least well-named items around.
I suppose actually that's not true because it is creating a buzz of sorts. It just happens to be a general buzz on Twitter and Facebook that Google Buzz is disappointing.
Google doesn't seem to have understood that there isn't really plurality in the social networking market unless you genuinely offer something unique.
So Twitter exists because of, not despite, its 140 character limit and Facebook exists because where would you be without hours spent flicking through complete stranger's wedding pictures.
But Google Buzz adds little to this - it's just another thing to update when updating brings very little reward in itself.
But then again, as I have said, I could be wrong....
I suppose actually that's not true because it is creating a buzz of sorts. It just happens to be a general buzz on Twitter and Facebook that Google Buzz is disappointing.
Google doesn't seem to have understood that there isn't really plurality in the social networking market unless you genuinely offer something unique.
So Twitter exists because of, not despite, its 140 character limit and Facebook exists because where would you be without hours spent flicking through complete stranger's wedding pictures.
But Google Buzz adds little to this - it's just another thing to update when updating brings very little reward in itself.
But then again, as I have said, I could be wrong....
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