Comments on: Me, me, me journalism. Get me a gun

By: Public relations consultant » Blog Archive » Max Cliffordâ€™s sex parties, womanising et cetera

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 14:22:12 +0000

[...] Max Cliffordâ€™s interview in the Observer magazine makes for an intriguing piece of journalism. We learn all about Maxâ€™s sex parties, serial affairs and the rest, in the least sensational way. All the scandal is buried in what Kieren McCarthy observes is a terribly self-indulgent and not particularly well written article. [...]

By: Max

Max — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 15:13:40 +0000

You were lucky not to read that Carlin article in full: it was one of the most sycophantic and self-regardingpuff-pieces it’s been my misfortune to read.

But then the Observer Food Magazine is the acme of egotistical journo-wank…you don’t get to write for it unless you’re a preening ego-maniac of the first order.

By: Manek

Manek — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 09:31:47 +0000

Couldn’t agree more Kieren.

As the papers get fatter they fill up their crapulous pages with more and more columnists whose opinions are worth diddly squat and who don’t even have the good grace to start with the traditional ’so what?’ at the start of a piece. It’s just assumed that because they’re there, they’re worth reading. And 99 times out of 100, they’re not. The trouble is, many of these people also write features that way too.

It’s enough to make your bile boil.

By: Kieren

Kieren — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 09:42:16 +0000

Ah yeah, the first-person references across the whole blog post would appear to show me up in just as bad a light. But then it is different – I am writing about my own opinion on my own blog. The examples I give are where journalists are actually supposed to be writing about something completely outside of themselves.

If hacks were forced to stop writing in the first-person, they would suddenly find they are forced to be more reliable, dig up more info, speak to experts and generally be more accurate. This, of course, means more work which is no doubt a big reason why first-person nonsenses are so popular.

But assuming Richard A is my fellow Oxford-based hack, I have reviewed your recent pieces and I am pleased to tell you that you remain able to write for my non-existent publication. Keep up the good, third-person work.

Kieren

By: Richard A

Richard A — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 09:19:15 +0000

Slight irony in you kicking off this post with the words "If I ever...." but otherwise, right on sister. Problem is, most hacks wouldn't have anything to write about then. But enough about self-obsessed journalists promoting themselves....

By: Graham

Graham — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 14:30:22 +0000

Couldn’t agree more Kieren. But the worst, the absolute worst were a bunch of TV ads for BBC 24 – dunno if you woulda caught them in the UK. They were to promote BBC news coverage. Each ad featured John Simpson, Rageh Omar etc. retelling some scary experience they had reporting from some fleapit in the first person, the idea being this would relate to how hard hitting the BBC news is blah, blah blah. But it was bloody awful. Like really shitty self promotion. Much as I like the BBC, I don’t watch the news to learn about the personality of the journalist, I watch it for the news. If I choose to read something into a person, his mannerisms, choice of words, delivery, then fine, but I don’t want opinion. I can get that elsewhere. The me, my, I, mines is all well and good in an autobiography, but for journalism, beyond those pitiful weekend newspaper columns which entertain me on the toilet and nowhere else are unwanted and unread or at least they are by me, me, me