Bloggers redefined

What does the word “blogger” mean to you? Is it someone who maintains a “weblog” – one of those internet sites in which anyone can write down their thoughts in “posts”, and readers can comment on them? What is the “blogosphere”? Is it a collection of people with “blogs” writing about issues? Is one of the distinguishing features of the “blogosphere” that it is citizens writing about issues outside the confines of traditional media?

No, according to News Ltd’s recent unsubtle attempt to appropriate the popularity of this independent online space, it isn’t. The “blogosphere” and “bloggers” are people who comment on News Ltd websites.

A Marcus Kuczynski from the Courier Mail in Brisbane reports that “even the blogosphere has turned against satire”. His evidence for this? Well, after That Chaser Sketch -

Many bloggers perceived this as a sick attempt to poke fun at dying kids.

One story about the skit on the Herald-Sun site attracted more than 700 online comments.

Marcus then goes on to quote a whole lot of other “bloggers”, none of whom appear to actually have blogs at all. If they do, they’re certainly not listed – the only sites Marcus is willing to name are couriermail.com.au and heraldsun.com.au (imagine if people clicked on an external link and read some material not located on our own servers! We can’t take the chance!). I had thought that the “blogosphere” could reasonably be interpreted to extend beyond the long-established commercial media empire owned by Rupert and other corporate titans – and, in fact, that this was one of its main strengths – but apparently not.

Yes, apparently the entire blogosphere (”bloggers” in general) is pretty much entirely represented by half a dozen commenters on news.com.au stories. Who needs independent writers from all corners of the planet with their disparate communities of commenters? If it’s not published on News Ltd, well, whatever it is, it’s not the “blogosphere”. Who knows what those other sites are – they don’t matter. Now, they don’t even have a name. When we write about the “blogosphere” and “online opinion”, it’s only the bits we control that matter.

Expect more of this. This is the first time Marcus has attempted to call News Ltd commenters “bloggers”, and pretend that they’re representative of “bloggers” in general – but it’s not the first time he’s attempted to sum up “online opinion” as if the only important things happening online were on his employer’s site.

Which is a pity, because I thought the whole point of this new online venture by News Ltd was to get involved in the national debates – not just pathetically pretend nothing was happening outside.

PS Would whoever’s editing “Punch” mind either indenting the first few words of each paragraph or inserting line breaks between them? The formatting of this piece was abysmal.