The opening paragraph reminds me of when you hear people say "I am not racist... but"
And you cannot disagree with the fact that anyone can indeed, be a blogger! But if you want to earn your stripes in journalism, you need to start at the bottom....
BUT WAIT! Bloggers are not journalists!
The truth is that many bloggers are throwing caution into the wind and are turning professional. This is not as easy as it sounds. It takes work. A lot of it.
Bloggers are "content creators". We "report" on things that might be of interest to our readers. We have an intimate knowledge of just who that demographic is. I am not a part of Nicole Warne's demographic. Fashion to me comes down to, does it fit, is it comfy and are there any visible stains on it.
The reason why Nicole Warne is in the front rows at fashion shows is because she too, knows her audience and can deliver the brands messages directly to them. And by all accounts, she has a shit load of readers.
Interestingly enough, I have also seen journalists carefully following bloggers on platforms of social media. I myself have seen many of my blog posts reworked and published, sometimes with very little changes.
Take for example yesterday's Sunday Telegraph which took content directly from me via The Hoopla, and ran it with no credit. The journalist who wrote it was mortified that it had been edited out, and let me know.
Which brings us back to ethics.
I read this open letter today to journalists at News Limited.
You can read the full version here, but this kind of stuck out for me....
Which brings me back to why I am uncomfortable with being lectured by you on ethics and morals, Mr Moran.
It is also interesting to note that I have had dozens of emails from working journalists about how to blog, and what do they need to do to get started.
Hmmmmm.
And now for disclosure...
Of course buying followers is not credible! If a blogger has a huge load of followers and little or no community interaction, it is safe to say that they are full of shit and deluded.
As far as disclosure is concerned, the blogging community is starting to wake up to the fact that it is OK TO GET PAID FOR YOUR WORK! I run a commercial blog and I own that fact. There is nothing wrong with it. A few well known bloggers do have a reputation for non-disclosure, but they are far outnumbered by those who are doing the right thing.
And in my opinion, these laws will be introduced to Australia soon. They have to be. We run a few years behind the blogging scene in the States.
Again this comes back to morals. Recently I was asked to join a campaign for a brand that was neither a good fit for the blog, and something that I personally do not use. I gave them my fee, which was a live pony, and we all had a good old laugh.
If you are sneaky, you will be caught out, and if you are disrespectful of your readers, they will let you know.
Take this as an example of someone who knows a good fit when she sees it, from The Daily Telegraph in August 2008.
So you see Mr. Moran, you need not be threatened by bloggers. Most of us are perfectly happy creating content, building communities, being creative, accepting opportunities that may present themselves and exploring this relatively new frontier of media.
The main thing I appreciate from blogging is the gift it has given me to really explore who I am. It has made me more empathic and allowed me to see both sides of any situation.
And it has allowed me to learn how to recognising a sour grape sucker when I see one.
*Takes a Panadol, goes and lies down*
There is no commercial agreement with me and Panadol.
