London Indymedia

Don't hate the media, blog the media

the jolly blogger | 27.09.2005 00:59 | Culture | Indymedia | Technology | London | World

Over the space of a few years the culture of blogging has spread rapidly to such a degree that the new media form appears to enjoy a readership to compete with the traditional media forms such as the daily paper...

When David Mery decided to publicise his experiences as a suspected terrorist in the hands of the Metropolitan Police he approached an old friend at the Guardian. Twelve years earlier he'd had a story printed in the computer section of the paper so this was the first mainstream news organisation he thought to try. He passed on his detailed notes of the whole incident and last week it found it's way in 'column 5' on the front page.

Of course The Guardian doesn't exactly have a massive readership and with no other UK papers picking up on the story it could have sank quickly from sight if it hadn't been for the geek grape vine commonly known as the blogsphere.

Bloggers picked up on the story, adding their own slant and their readers adding their own comments and experiences. The story spread quickly around the world triggering storys in Der Spiegel (the popular german left wing weekly magazine), The Register, The Inquirer and other online news services but mostly propogating blog to blog.

It has taken less than a week for this little story to explod around world thanks to the internet. At the time of writting, a google search for "David Mery" and "police" brings up about 900 hits (all of which appear to refer to the story)

 http://www.google.co.uk/search?hs=rg2&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial_s&q=%22David+Mery%22+police+&btnG=Search&meta=

the jolly blogger
- Homepage: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hs=rg2&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial_s&q=%22David+Mery%22+police+&btnG=Search&meta=

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

Bob Blog

27.09.2005 02:42

Ahead of the G8 Make Poverty History set up live phone conferences for bob geldolf with influencial and higher profile US bloggers to try and get them onside.

This practice is now a standard tool in any major campaign toolkit, along with other less honest ones.

mph


re: The Spiegel

27.09.2005 08:40

just for the record: The Spiegel (Hamburg/Germany) is by no means a left wing paper.

German Exile
mail e-mail: media.toad@gmail.com


The new media

27.09.2005 08:49

Blogging is a very powerfull weapon and for many activists is now THE way of getting and spreading information (sorry Indymedia, you're already out of date).

Unregulated, controlled by nobody, never censored or hidden. Blogging is the future

blogger


Indymedia + blogs

28.09.2005 20:26

If you like, indymedia is just a multi user blog innit :-)

Though would be nice if it could integrate some free tagging.

NYC imc has been trialing a beta blogwire btw - more on imc + blogging to come in october...


"bloggit and scarper"


The first review on the internet of 'Mosque' as shown on ITV 1 Sunday 2 October

03.10.2005 01:14

The First Review on the Internet of London ITV 1 programme MOSQUE as shown on Sunday 2 October 2005





©TFRF 2005
in association with the London Community Audit Network
The FIRST REVIEW of Factuals
on the media instantly published on the Internet


Time: GMT 0058
Place : London UK
Day: Monday
Date: 3 October 2005

Under Review; Mosque - ITV1 -Pilgrim Production Company London

The ITV programme called ‘Mosque’, shown between 2258 and 2358 GMT on Sunday 2 October 2005, contained almost exclusively images and footage that could only have been designed by a Department of a state or by a coalition or alliance of departments,whose priority must have been to impress on the main bold of viewers the less-than-desirable claim by the Muslims to be projected or represented fairly and truthfully.

The programme was called ‘Mosque’ and its broadcast occurred within hours of the latest item of ‘news’ being carried by the majority-controlling media in the country about repeated attempts by the ‘Muslim Council of Britain’ to have their complaint investigated in fact against the BBC over the recent Panorama programme that had lied about Muslims.

The first round of the MCB attempts to get their complaint heard has ended unsuccessfully. As they should have known it would do.

But the MCB are not a barometer of what is going on in Britain. The MCB are a token, a symptom, a tool and a diversion. As an outfit, the MCB itself could only have been designed with the active involvement of State Departments in the UK and elsewhere within the imperialist hegemony of the Bush-Blair alliance.

Consequently, the MCB themselves owe their ‘presence’ on the BBC to their service to the regime of Tony Blair and to the service done to the racist agenda of Tony Blair in every identifiable neighbourhood wit any significant ‘Muslim presence’ in any part of the UK.

So the ITV programme called ‘Mosque’ ought to have included a chunk from the MCB or from their less-publicised rivals for the approval of the racist Blair regime.

The ITV programme as shown did not include any MCB comments nor indeed did the programme have anything that would show to the vast majority of the target audience - as typified by the ‘ordinary’ viewer in the South East - the truth about the role of the ‘Mosque’ in a ‘Muslim community’ as different from the role of the ‘committee’ that controls the access to the institution and the resources of the mosque.

The ITV programme was a lie on every single major factor. How can lying ITV programmes like that ‘improve’ understanding about a part of the population that is so over-represented in the negative portrayal of ‘facts’ today . How can lying ITV factuals aping the lying BBC factuals even create any truthful understanding between any groups of people in society ?

Posted on the world wide web at 0010 Hrs GMT Monday 3 October 2005

The FIRST REVIEW of Factuals


feel free to lobby bloggers

17.12.2005 18:27

During the RNC protests a year ago, I was emailed from NY, asking to blog them. I was most honoured to write all about them as every little helps in their campaign.

-More Solidarity Blogging!
-want publicity JUST ASK!

dexer


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