Have to report a closing-of-the-circle here, in the nicest possible way. About a week ago I got a call from an old newspaper colleague of mine - David Milne, who was the news editor on the Sunday Herald, the Scottish paper I was a founding editor of in 1999. David has always been the most digitally literate journalist I know, so it was no surprise that he was asking me to blog to his new Sunday Herald Salon (a respectful copy of the Guardian's Comment is Free site, which I also contribute to).
But as he twinklingly reminded me, somewhat painfully, this is the second Sherald 'Salon'. The first was a true editorial nightmare. As the paper's Cultural and Digital Editor, my brilliant notion was to try to simulate the format of BBC2's Newsnight Review on paper - with four pundits opining on four bits of culture, one of them the lead reviewer in each. Actually, I think we managed about three versions of it, before I collapsed in a heap. Many of the reviewing team didn't go to all four items (which fucked the process up royally), claiming 'they weren't getting paid enough' (which they weren't).
Of course, now we have our wonderful blogosphere, everyone can get involved in analysing the zeitgeist, in real time, whether punter or pundit (for the expertise on that, go here). And where, additionally, there's enough of a 'participation ethic' that people don't expect to get paid for their commentary. It's a wry realisation - that what I was trying to do was awaiting the information infrastructure (and its supporting 'social' culture) to make it happen. But as I think about it, I can feel my 'stress eyelid' beginning to flicker again. No nostalgia for that time, thank you.
Though as it turned out, I couldn't help but write a nostalgic post. Consistency, virtue, hobgoblins, etc.
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