Journalist as wanker
July 28, 2009
So I think we’re all agreed – the modern journalist should be able to converse with their readers.
They should be able to handle a comment box, a tweet feed etc etc. They should be able to community build, take part in discussions, respect their readership.
A tech journalist, for example, should be able to talk tech – without reverting to calling people “you fucking morons“.
So witness this tirade from Tech Crunch contributor Milo Yiannopoulos:
Would you want to read this man? Would you want to employ this man? Would you want to work with this man?
I understand he’s taking part in the upcoming TEDx Liverpool event. Do you really want him there?
Is he trying to carve out a role as some kind of tech shock jock? Or is he just a wanker?
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Nice, real nice. For someone whose job, presumably, is to talking in an interesting way about tech, closing down that conversation by insulting people who make mistakes with it is just perfect. I work with arts organisations, trying to get them to embrace tech. The thing we have to emphasise again and again is to not be afraid, to wade in, and make mistakes, because if everyday people don’t get out there and play, the online world will be populated solely by a geek-elite. Now that might suit a right-wing tech blogger fine, but the overwhelming ethic of the online world is open and transparent information. If Knowledge is power, wiki is power to the people. The future is open-source, and if these kind of people want to swim around in backwaters of their own devising – so be it. But don’t let them talk at our conferences. Just don’t.
I think you’re all over-reacting a bit over a perfectly innocent rant, but I’ve learnt not to expect a sense of humour from social media types.
Good last line, though.
Can I just say at the outset that Milo Yiannopoulos is not an employee of TechCrunch Europe – he’s a freelance journalist and a contributor to TCE. And his Twitter stream is own. I’m really only interested in what he does for TCE. To your points:
- The modern journalist should be able to converse with their readers. Yes, I agree. They should – but then again they don’t always. Not all journalists are like that and some are still very good even if they don’t converse *that much*. However, I don’t see Yiannopoulos not “conversing”, it’s just that he might not “converse” to someone’s taste – in this case yours I guess?
- “They should be able to handle a comment box, a tweet feed etc etc. They should be able to community build, take part in discussions” – Yeah but one of the most amazing media brands has been created by Mike Arrington (whether you like it or not) . He tends to drag his community kicking and screaming by the hair – like I said, it’s not to everyone’s taste, right? But something’s worked here. He’s not a community “builder” – he’s more like a sort of prophet to some, and, of course, a devil to others. But that seems to work in a certain kind of blogging. Not all I’ll admit. But it has worked here. FYI, people who contribute to TechCrunch often have to “handle” quite a lot of comments, many of which are not that nice.
- Should a tech journalist be able to talk tech without being dismissive? Up to a point, but I wouldn’t call a throwaway line on Twitter that big a deal. Twitter is like “public IM”. I’m sure we’ve all been rude to SOMEONE on Twitter at least once. I certainly have. Is that grounds for the Spanish Inquisition? It would depend on the tweet I guess. Personally I go after tweets by people doing things like confirming a company has gone out of business and people are actually out of work. Tweets which are just rude or a bit insulting are flotsam and jetsum. The Tweet stream you find so annoying actually contained the information people needed that the site in question was a scam. They can be offended if they want, but it still had the info.
- “Would you want to read this man?” Actually a lot of people really liked Yiannopoulos’ recent piece for us on the Newcastle tech scene. Read the comments. It’s also the work of someone who has more than “conversed with their readers”. It’s the work of someone who has faced the readers they’d initially slagged off. Not many journalists do that kind of thing. There’s even video evidence.
- TEDx Liverpool event – I’m not privy to his diary. Yiannopoulos freelancers for TC Europe – his time is his own. He’ll be representing himself.
- “Is he trying to carve out a role as some kind of tech shock jock? Or is he just a wanker?” Is that “community building” on your part? Or are you just trying to shock me?
Anyway, an interesting post, thanks.
I haven’t been able to find a reference to Milo Yiannopoulos having anything to do with Tedx Liverpool. If you’re reading this, Milo or the Ted team, could you let me know so I can cancel my tickets? The guy’s a worthless ego with a loudhailer and I can’t be bothered to listen to him.
Is this man – Milo – ever able to say anything polite?
All I ever see is rant,insult and general offensiveness.
It’s boring, juvenile and unproductive.
Journalist as incompetent:
http://www.inquisitr.com/31714/james-whatley-said-to-have-quit-spinvox/