Unspun

Blogs ‘written by fools to be read by imbeciles’


A financial journalist I once knew would approve of this tirade against bloggers. Joseph Rago, an assistant features editor at Asian Wall Street Journal, an editorial headlined The Blog Mob. There he castigates the readers of blogs and those who, like Unspun, blogs.

Vitirol is fine but Rago sounds a bit like he’s raging against the dying of the light. One of his central arguments is, in his own words:

The larger problem with blogs, it seems to me, is quality. Most of them are pretty awful. Many, even some with large followings, are downright appalling.

He is correct. Most blogs are appalling. But there are over 50 million of them out there and someone who spends a bit of time bothering about the blogosphereshould be able to figure out how to separate the wheat form the chaff.

Rago also defends the mainstream media, from which he earns a living, by admitting that even thpugh it isn’t perfect..

The technology of ink on paper is highly advanced, and has over centuries accumulated a major institutional culture that screens editorially for originality, expertise and seriousness.

Let’s get serious here. The attitude behind this kind of holier-than-thou righteousness is what killed off The Asian Wall Street Journal and left us with the trash that IS the Wall Street Journal today. I stopped my subscription of the Journal way before blogs came on the scene because I found it excruciatingly boring, extremely up itself and, more crucially, had little new information to offer the Asian reader once Karen House and gang got hold of managing the Journal. (see Where have all the Good Reads Gone for a rant on the demise of good reads in Asia)

Like most apiring editorial writers Rano is good at laying out for us the on-one-hand-this-on-the-other-hand-that arguments about blogging, but overall his tone is condescending as only in an editorial that the journal can approve for printing. Readers aren’t that imbecilic: if they are, so many of them would not have cancelled their subscriptions to the Asian Wall Street Journal.

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3 responses to “Blogs ‘written by fools to be read by imbeciles’”

  1. bayi Avatar
    bayi

    While I subscribe to Rango’s views to some extent, as I read my daily papers without fail, there were times when I had news updates way before these came into print.

    Unlike the conventional newspapers which require a licence to publish and substantial resources to get to the final product, blogs have cut through all these obstacles. Blogs have allowed everyone an opportunity to get his views into print. It does not matter if there are millions of blogs of doubtful quality. Of the millions, I am sure there are some that are excellent and these may even match or surpass the print media. It’s a free market driven by choice. If one finds a blog that interests him, so be it. It fulfils his needs.

    Similarly, in the world of print media, some excellent papers fold up for the want of readers and yet some considered to be trash thrive profitably.

    Whatever the case may be, it would be useful to recognise that blogs are here to stay and one day Rango may have to join this group of bloggers who are the subject of his tirade.

    But there are some exceptions. I know of many who are unable to come to grips with e-books, even when they are printed into hard copies. The idea of carrying a book wherever I go so that I can reach out for a good read is a comfort I cannot live without.

    That blogs are here to stay is a fact and the earlier Rango reconciles his views on this issue, the better he will come to grips with reality and move forward without pain.

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  2. JW Avatar
    JW

    Er, I think it’s Rago, not Rango.

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  3. unspun Avatar
    unspun

    JW: You are correct. Sorry for the mistake and thanks for spotting this. Have made corrections.

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