Blog wars

Photo by Tom Tziros

It seems that the conference on Monday here in Thessaloniki on participatory journalism and blogs has sparked off a mini-war between bloggers and the more the traditional media’s supporters.

I think that inadvertently the conference organisers have given us a text book example of how the new channels for collecting and desseminating news can run rings around older forms not just in terms of speed of response but in quality of reporting.

The two day event which started in Thessaloniki on Monday and moved to Athens on Tuesday was billed as a discussion on the influence of new media on old media and vice versa. Present were member of the Greek media establishment and academics from the Journalism and Mass Media department of the Aristotelion university of Thessaloniki as well as bloggers from the city.

So far, so good. The event was also to be webcast live and those following at home were invited to comment and send in questions to the panel.

However, the reality of the situation proved to be a mite different. Technical delays meant that the first panel started an hour and a half late and that the much vaunted wi-fi coverage proved as elusive as it was erratic. That alone would have been unfortunate but the problems with basics such as microphones, projection screens, lighting etc. meant that quite soon the whole situation descended into farce.

To add insult to injury the lack of technical preparation which matched by the lack of knowledge shown by many of the academics and older journalists invited. Yet it was their voices that dominated the debate at many points. Apparently, bloggers are insecure, psychologically unbalanced, vindictive souls only too willing to be used as puppets of the CIA and other like minded organisations. We don’t check our sources, we say nasty things, we don’t write properly and we are deeply disrespectful of our “betters” in the media. Well, at least that is something I agree with.

The first and last panel discussions were often little more than diatribes aimed at nasty bloggers (who by the way weren’t invited). Those who did turn up to this luddite slug fest spent the day wondering whether to laugh or cry at the level of discussion. Later we did decided to both and blog about it.

To say the response from those bloggers who followed the debate either on the internet or on the spot was scathing would be an understatement. They quickly and mercilessly dissected the thoughts, ideas and vanities of those taking part.

On the other hand the other side in this particular turf war took their time about responding to these comments. They ate in their fancy restaurants and patted themselves on the back for being so bold as I guess they had not bothered to follow the debate on the net. As a result the speed and vehermence of the criticisms must have come as a shock.

I think that fact that most of those present were a captive audience of journalism students, not about to upset their future grade point average with untoward criticisms lulled the academics into a false sense of security.

Slow they may have been, but they did get the message. This post on the official conference blog in Greek entitled 48 hours After (lovely title, just about sums up what they don’t get about instant access and response) in which they or one of their minions most probably, decried the awful way in which the bloggers wrote about the event and patted themselves on the back for being so very up to date.

Pleaseeeeeee the 90’s are over. They even had the nerve to say that the event was the culmination of five months preparation. Five months!!!!!! Please, not so loud people may hear you.

I looked at the 20 odd comments on the post and just one was critical. Most seemed little more that congratulations from the students to those organising the event. I actually posted a comment but mysteriously my thoughts on the conference didn’t make it pass the censors.

Actually, I think that attitude was indicative of the whole event. There was little attempt to reach out and engage in any meaningful dialogue. I don’t think that people had the chance to ask more than a dozen questions during whole event. Indeed the only meaningful exchange of ideas happened at the very end when guest speaker, Dan Gillmor chatted with the few students who didn’t scurry off to get their attendance certificates and us bloggers.

Instead this was a grandstanding event designed by those at the university to show how hip and web 2.0 they were. Unfortunately. the whole thing blew up in their faces when they realised that they didn’t control the direction of the debate outside the conference and that their ignorance of the subject would be exposed to a wider audience.

Thoughts on "Participatory Journalism: Blog and New Media" - Thessaloniki

I thought I'd write a little more about the conference held in Thessaloniki and Athens on the role of citizen journalism, participatory media and more traditional forms of news coverage. I spent most of Monday listening to the different debates going on between bloggers, journalists and academics (see here for my first reactions). The debate then moved to Athens on Tuesday but unfortunately, I wasn't able to follow it on the internet as I had work to do and some citizen journalism of my own (click here) as Greece was in the grip of a wave of strikes and protests.


In the meantime I checked out what the Greek language blogosphere had to say about the subject. Reactions to the organisation and handling of the debate range from the cynically bemused to the scathing. A lot of criticism was aimed at the hosts of the event for the seemingly endless technical problems which effected everything from microphones (working, not working, δεν γνωριριζω/δεν απανταω) to the wi-fi coverage which seemed to disappear almost as quickly as it appeared.

In addition the hostile reaction of many of the Greek academics and older journalists in the first panel (see here for participants) combined with an ignorance of what is meant by participatory journalism didn't add to the quality of the debate. Instead they seemed to fixate on blogging and the supposed problems it causes. They totally ignored other channels such as Facebook, Twitter, cell - mobile phones and Youtube. If they had been students they would have got D- for preparation.


Instead there was a lot of time spent of the problems of anonymity in blogging and its lack of quality control. This theme was repeated again and again during the two other panel discussions and I was lead to the conclusion that many of these guys would be far more comfortable working in say, China or Iran where the authorities know how to deal with any pesky bloggers who write anonymously. On the other hand some of the mainstream journalists taking part such as Nikos Xydakis, who tried to give a more nuanced take on the topic.

Thankfully, in the second debate the bloggers invited, Asteris Masouras and Vasillis Sotiropoulos had the chance to argue the case for the benefits that a more democratised, internet media might offer.



The highlight of the day was the talk by Dan Gillmor (click here to see a talk he give on citizen journalism at the University of North Carolina) who came to the conference at his own expense!!!!!!! and managed to raise the tone of the day's debate. I particularly enjoyed his view that now was a great time for someone to start a career in journalism as the cost of tools for actually producing and desseminating news had fallen to the point that anyone can do it. On the other hand he added that traditional journalistic values such as objectivity, thoroughness and accuracy would not go out of date.

One comment that he made that I found particularly pertinent was that journalists need to listen. A real irony in an event that lasted a whole day and in which the audience were permitted no more than ten questions. The organisers were more interested in grandstanding than in engaging and exchanging views with anyone but themselves.

I think the saddest part of the whole day was looking at the audience made up mainly of journalism students. As far as I could see only one had a laptop (on which he played Solitaire for the duration of the debates) and nobody seemed to be using any video or other recording device. They sat, bored, occasionally scribbling down notes whenever their professor spoke.


The few bloggers present stood out like a sore thumb not simply because they were using technology invented after the advent of the combustion engine but also by the enthusiasm they showed. Unlike the soon - to - be mainstream journalists, they did not rush for the doors at the end of the day to pick up their certificate of attendance but rather hung around chatted and asked Gillmor about his views on a variety of subjects.

Update. I managed to find this talk on Google Video which is basically the same talk as the one Gillmor gave yesterday. Actually, it is probably a fuller version as he had to cut down as his original talk at the last moment when the organisers couldn't get the translation equipment to work.

Citizen Journalism and the Traditional Media

I'm currently at the media conference here in Thessaloniki on citizen journalism and I feel that I'm in the lion's den. Thankfully there are a few other bloggers around to give me moral support in this luddite stronghold.

Here are a few notes I made during the first few talks. They are a rough draft so please forgive any typos and the like. I'll tidy them up later.

With a delay of over an hour and wi-fi non-existent the 2008 conference on participatory journalism started. In the old days they used to say that money was the root of all evil, now it seems it is blogs. The conference so far seems to be a celebration of self-congratulation with a strong dose of fear mixed in, reflecting the traditional media's sense of terror over new means of communication.

A call for the incorporation of the new forms into the ancient regime. The problem is that like a dying empire the newspapers have a future no more assured that that of the Romanovs or the Hapsburgs. They desperately seek to define the coming changes in the vain hope that by naming the beast they can somehow control it.

At last something I agree with. The difference is not between new and traditional channels but between good and bad journalism, in that respect both sides have lot to answer for.


The issue of the reliability of sources was raised. The point was made that bloggers, in contrast with regular journalists do not check sources or cross check information. Once again we come up against the idea that print journalism is the gold standard to which all others, including bloggers should aspire.

In one way their argument would be perfectly valid if the world of newspaper reporting was filled with Woodwards, Bernsteins and Pilgers. Yet even the quickest of glances show that this far from being true. The reality is that much of print journalism is little more than gossip, political PR and life style musings. In that respect, bloggers, beholden to no one for either their living or their future career are given the freedom to utter blasphemous truths that may not find a place in traditional media.

Access to power corrupts, complete access corrupts completely, to paraphrase Acton’s famous maxim.

In Greece, page after page in the newspapers is devoted to political coverage. However, a closer look reveals much of this is simply the thoughts, words and programs of those involved spewed onto the page with little or no criticism or analysis. the paper follows blindly the political line set down by the owner and the journalist is reduced to little more than a rancid mix of cheerleader and stenographer.

In such an environment to talk of integrity and professionalism borders on the ridiculous. The traditional media, through the compromises they have made either with the political administrations or vested economic interests have left the moral high ground and headed for the swamps.

The old charges are once again dusted off and brought out. Like old war horses they are are paraded to show that the new means of communicating are part of why the world is going to pot. Too much information, nobody is listening anymore, we don’t live our lives we record them, blah, blah blah.

Like old men bemoaning the morals of the young they refuse to see that anything good in the new world emerging. Their minds go back to fabricated pasts, beautifully crafted histories in which uncertainty, compromise and painful truths are airbrushed out with all the care and attention of a Stalinist propagandist removing Trotsky from photographs of the October revolution.

I look around at the room, at the young journalism students bored and restless, fidgeting while they wait for the talk to end. Some are taking notes, only a couple have a laptop or any other electronic means to record what is being said.



I have the terrible feeling that they are being trained by the professors speaking to be typewriter technicians, with a body of knowledge long outmoded, desperately waiting for history to be reversed, for some golden age to be restored. "Just you see the quill is set for a come back, believe me."

The blogger next to me asks the students behind me;

“Do you study journalism?”

“Yes, we do.”

“Where is your laptop?”

“They didn’t tell us to bring them.”

There you have it. Sheep led by donkeys.

The subject of anonymity on the internet has come up in the discussion with the idea that it allows people to express themselves in ways that are not acceptable in other situations. Their almost total technical ignorance is frightening. They seem to be totally unaware of the role of IP providers or the existence of an IP address. They are seemingly unaware of the opposite arguments concerning the suppression of free speech in countries such as China and Iran. They are terrified that somebody may say something nasty and so scream for control.

For the reaction of other Greek language bloggers who followed the event click on the links below.

- Τα ΓΙΑΤΙ και τα ΔΙΟΤΙ των ΗΜΕΡΙΔΩΝ και των ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΩΝ
- Ανέκδοτο περί συνεδρίου συμμετοχικής δημοσιογραφίας
- Όταν τα παραδοσιακά μέσα κάνουν έφοδο στα νέα…
- Συνέδριο; Δημοσιογραφία;
- Συμμετοχική Δημοσιογραφία: Blog και Νέα Μέσα
- Δημοσιογραφία και πολίτες ΙI ή ένα συνέδριο γι’ αυτά
- Livestreaming από τη διημερίδα
- What is journalism?
- Λα-λα Λόλα να ένα blog- New Media Conference συμπεράσματα
- Social Media Tales: ένα συνέδριο κι η σφαγή των αμάχων
- Οι δικές μου εντυπώσεις από τη “διημερίδα”

For updates on the conference click here and here.