The Emergence of The BloJo

BloJo - Journalist forced by their Editor to keep a blog on the website of the newspaper. Usually involuntarily and rumoured to be without Union award.

Not to be confused with the urban slang:

BloJo - Similar to mojo, but related to writing in your blog.

I see the Granny and Dominion Post have both decided to give the whole "BloJo" thing a go to relative degrees. Lets have a look at it.

The sexy thing about blogging is what journalists are finding. It's an instantaneous response. Journalists need no longer wait a day or a week to see themselves in print, they can see their opinions and thoughts on screen instantly. They can read about their work on other blogs and see the feedback. But how credible really is the BloJo?

Blogger Independence

A truly independent blogger is a rare, yet marvellous beast. They can slag anyone they want off in a reasoned fashion without fear or favour. People will read you as they know that you will not be lead by interest. Sometimes you can forget your own self-interest. Even political blogs can be seen as independent and authoritative if the blogger is not affiliated to a political party through a conflict of interest and declares upfront what and who they are.

For example, Jordan Carter has no independent thought. We all know that so now we temper our opinion accordingly. Same with Tony Milne. Someone like Whale Oil has more independent thought. Same for Peter Cresswell. Neither Whale Oil or Peter depend on any Political Party for their future or livelihood and so cannot have something they said on their blog used against them. Sure, they are right wing, but free to slag their own for doing something stupid. David Farrar relies a little on Political Parties for his entrepreneurial endeavour, hence his impartiality is a little less. Which is why probably he makes an extra effort to look impartial and praises the left for some things.

I try to give Labour credit when they do something good. Like for sacking their own they get a "Well Done Helen". It's just they don't do a lot of good and they have never lowered taxes so I can't say anything nice about them. I have an unusual amount of affection for Winston. I am fair but firm with National as they need to do better and I try to be as honest about my one-Lasiked eye supporting ACT as I can. Have a search you will find I don't actually write much about them.

How independent though is a BloJo? The answer is not very.

BloJo Independence

It would be a brave BloJo in the New Zealand two horse APN and Fairfax newspaper world, to slag off silly journalism within their own. Like lawyers, they have a horrible professional code to not do it to each other anyway. As a current example, Metrolive's website has a review of the two Sunday gossip columnists. The review, while sometimes rather amusing, cannot be taken seriously as Metro's ACP is directly aligned to APN through their recent joint venture to take on the profitable Fairfax ATM that is TradeMe. The author of Metrolive (and sometimes yes, it is funnier than the columns themselves), would be brave to slag off the Herald.

My own content has been riddled with second thoughts as to "should I be having a go at the bastards?". Fortunately the third thought I have is a deep dark "fuck it, do it anyway". In one instance I inadvertently fisked a Dominion Post editorial that was downright silly. Suggesting that CEO's and highly paid entrepreneurs were overpaid compared with minimum wagers. Online it was not actually that obvious it was an editorial. Well, that's my story and I am sticking to it.

The independence of a BloJo is important but a little too much to ask. As a wise (dirty old) man once told me "you can't do your job love if you fear being fired doing it". This is of course easier to say the more money and clout you have as he did. But still its a fair rule to live by.

Content

Most bloggers who have been around a while have reasonably interesting or at least varied lives. Due usually solely to either their working circumstances or free time. BloJo's write all day about other people and other events. They do it for a living.

Creative Control

The best thing about a blog is that you have no Editor. Personally I find Editors who do anything other than correct your spelling and grammar, a social irritant. BloJo's still have an Editor who is driven by internal politics, pressure from the publisher, advertisers etc.... You would be hard pressed to get anyone to believe that BloJo's are allowed to express their opinions freely as they are doing it under a corporate banner.

I have a basic rule for whether I have creative control. If I can use the word "fuck" liberally then I do. My column, I can't, despite submitting it several times to see if I can slip it in. When on the blog I can publish the word 1000 times in a post.

Blogging Itself

Alot of blogging is reviewing and linking content published in the media. What we are after with the BloJo's are extra insights and gossip into what they are reporting on. Otherwise what is the purpose of a BloJo's blog? From what I have read from both sets of APN and Fairfax bloggers there has been precious f'all of this. They are publishing notes of their day or trips. While interesting to a junkie, it lacks what would make it excellent. We want from them the real story in getting the story. They may necessarily not be able to deliver this.

Take another type of example of a BloJo, Blonde at the Bar in Granny. It's not really fitting with Granny and as such out of its comfort zone. Which is good. The problem with Blonde at the Bar is to be really good it needs to be far racier than it is. I am sure Herald employee Ms Blonde gets up to far more mischief than her "friend X/Y/Z" does. So let her bloody write about it. Otherwise it will soon become a rather lame attempt at Sex and The City - written not by Samantha or Carrie but by our worst nightmare - Charlotte.

Incestuous

The NZ media is highly incestuous. Unlike bloggers, BloJo's one assumes may wish at some stage to work for their competitor. To piss off one while working for another prima facie seems rather terminal. The fortunate thing though is that Editors seem to last about as long at most papers as disposable underwear and the publishers change ownership of the organs frequently as well. Which can be a bad or a good thing.

Advertisers

Lets say a product really sucks the kumara and you are say the tech geek with a blog. That product is manufactured by the largest advertiser with the publisher that you are employed by. Are you allowed to blog that honest review? Of course you are not going to be able to.

The Saturday papers are full of real estate advertisements. When did you last find a negative comment from a journo about house sales?

I recall sitting at the desk of a (highly successful) publisher in London who was on the phone at the time to his Editor. He was a client of my then employer. He excused himself and went off to the corner of the room and I overheard him say something along the lines of "I don't care what you write but you just remember that you fill in the white space between (emphasis) the advertisements".

The Bloggers Advantage - Instant Noodles

When a paper prints a story adversely affecting a blogger, the blogger has an instant medium of response. Those who read the story in print and actually understand the reference to it will if interested go to the blog to find out what the response is. It is very powerful.

When an issue comes up of interest to a person and they know a blogger has a strong opinion on it or in an expert in their field, they will go to your blog instantly to find it.

Baring It All

The BloJo will soon find that they are mocked by professional colleagues and annoying University English graduates into style over substance. Many Journalists hide behind very good Editors and support staff. Bloggers can't hide behind such mirrors.

Crossing The Divide

Due to a reasonable scarcity of good columnists and casual writers in the New Zealand market offering new angles to old content, any blogger who is any good at what they do has been snapped up my mainstream media outlets in some way, shape or form. If five years ago you had told me for example, David Farrar would be on television giving his opinion on politics, the internet or social commentary, I would have declared you insane. Russell Brown, generally an excellent writer and commentator, would not have had half the effect he would if he did not have the blogging medium to express himself.

Now that BloJo's are crossing back over the divide, there is no longer a divide. Newspaper publishers and editors are effectively mainstreaming blogging. They have also added in a few authors who are not full-time journalists, effectively what those blogs tend to be are online columns. A BloCo if you like.

Readership

Lets face it, no one checks blogs at the weekend. It's when bloggers can actually write for the following week. Everyone breaks company computer use protocols and checks blogs at work during the week. Newspapers now know this and while it is not socially acceptable reading the print Granny at your cubicle, it is more than acceptable skimming the website as only the IT geek will know you are doing it. And chances are your Boss is doing it as well judging by the signatures on some of the emails I receive into my in-box. Blogging readership is just as likely to be an unemployed bum as it is a professional.

Dinosaurs

Deborah Coddington has dismissed blogging as "just noise". Deborah is a dinosaur of her species.

For if a blog is "just noise", the increased addition of BloJo's have made that noise rather deafening.