I'd never join a club that would allow a person like me to become a member
-Woody Allen-
.
.
The Truth?
I've been declined, or at least my request to be included on SJ-R's blogroll has been utterly ignored.
I'm not really serious about the "Sell Outs" graffiti on my artwork above.
Actually, I'm asking a question, not making a statement.
Child like as it seems the image above is timely, and thought provoking.
When an independent minded blogger becomes beholden for a certain percentage of their esteem, or their blog hits due to such a link will the blogger begin to soften their criticism of that main stream media outlet?
Would the blogger's fear of being removed from such a list tend to inhibit the blogger's post?
Will any of you on the list ever feel as comfortable critiquing SJ-R as you did before you made it on their Springfield Blogger's list?
So does that make you victims, or sell outs?
Before any of you comment, let me make one admission here.
Since establishing my relationship with the Illinois Times I can say that on several occasions I have found myself editing my own post for fear of being seen as too fringe, too controversial, too radical, too non-politically correct, etc.
I'm sure I do it on a subconscious basis too.
The effect is real whether realized or not.
6 comments:
I don't know why the SJ-R won't include your blog in their blog roll.
But to answer your question, no I have no problem criticising the SJ-R. Being on their blog roll isn't that important to me. It's nice I guess but not all that important to me.
JP you had me in stitches with your graphic! I didn't request for spfldbloggers to be added, but it just happened.
Spfldbloggers has picked up a little more traffic since being added and a few more new bloggers, but nothing to shake a stick at.
Maybe there is a chance they missed your request? It took them a day or so to approve a blog comment for Marie.
I have become the "one who must not be mentioned", which has a certain appeal :)
I'm new to this, but the SJR isn't something I think too much about offending, and I've even asked that they give me a free online subscription in exchange for a link a day.
(SJR, if you're reading, this offer is still on the table.)
I'd be curious to hear any response you get as to why they won't/haven't put you on the blogroll. Maybe because of your relationship with the IT?
I wrote some pretty harsh things in relation to their carrying Ann Coulter's column. They not only kept me on the blogroll, but quoted my email and blog in the paper.
What holds me back more than anything when I write is the fact that my name is on my blog and I'm politically involved enough that I know I'll encouter some of the people I write about. I know that if I write "Alderman so and so is a no good SOB" that I'm probably going to have an akward moment when I see that Alderman at the next city council meeting I attend to ask their support for something.
I don't back off from criticizing the SJ-R but I suppose I do soften my tone sometimes. I'm less likely to make a broad insult against the entire paper since I know that in a couple weeks I'll be asking them to cover a story about an issue I'm working on.
But those kind of relationships are a bigger issue with all local media. Does the SJ-R soften its coverage of some local officials who frequently provided good sources of news, like the County Clerk or Sheriff, for example?
Does the fact that the local Republican Party spends tens of thousands of dollars more in advertising than the Democrats at WICS TV 20 affect their news coverage?
Will,
Excellent contribution, and questions.
This is what I wanted. Some thought about this new phenomena.
We are the first generation of bloggers, and we are the one's they'll be searching back to - to discover how we reacted to the merging of new, and old media.
It is afterall a network.
Old media is still very lucrative, but there's no way that SJ-R can maintain its business model. It will adopt, and morph into a new media otherwise it won't last long (we're talking in terms of decades here).
SJ-R is doing the right thing. They're including more online content, and they're connecting to other outlets.
This forces them into a more competitive mode, which is a great idea.
If I ran SJ-R I'd have every article they have every published digitized, and freely accessible.
I'd even publish to the Net many of the articles which never made it.
I'd dump every photo they have in their archive onto their site.
And I'd plaster banner adds on every page of it too.
They need to jump into the fray without hesitation.
The number of hits to their site would increase significantly, and in the long run they'd generate more income that way.
Subscriptions will go down - this is certain, so the goal will be to move everything online - and take as many people with them there as possible.
I have no idea if they're ignoring me, or because of my criticism of Copley that they are waiting until the new owners show up. Or if they'll even add any more bloggers.
In the end though they are moving in the right direction - with their increased interactivity online.
They need more banner advertising on their comments pages though.
That's right more advertisements.
JP
Post a Comment