Groupthink

Posts Tagged trollumnists

Housing Andrew Bolt’s book

Nov 28

Posted by Scott Bridges in Media | 20 Comments

Trollumnist Andrew Bolt is not one given to modesty. Here he is today reviewing his own blog:

… more essential reading than ever.

His years-old “book” (can a collection of newspaper columns really be called a book?), on the other hand, was apparently not essential reading for one previous owner who gave or sold it to a second-hand book shop in Richmond where Ant Rogenous and I, along with a fellow Groupthinker, found it one day. Torn as to where the book should actually be displayed, we took some photos of said book in various sections of the store to see how it looked.

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The smelliest tongues

Nov 13

Posted by Ross Sharp in Foreign matter, Media, Politics, Society | 24 Comments

Steve Clemons, who writes “The Washington Note” has closed comments on his blog and remarks –

The comments on my blog have grown increasingly vile — and are not in any way constructive, civil, fair-minded, or policy-oriented. I am turning them off …

… I’m off to Havana Cuba for a research trip for a few days and have no interest or time in playing hall monitor for folks who need to grow up …

… I have emphasized over and over again that I am too busy to blog, do my New America Foundation work, and be a nanny for those who are not mature enough to be able to manage a civil discussion here …

… Eventually, I will review the last few weeks of comments and remove every one of them that went over the line with extremely crass and demeaning language …

… If you folks grow up, we can turn this on — but it takes shared commitment and responsibility. I won’t tolerate those who can’t be civil — on all sides of these debates …

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More on trollumnists

Nov 2

Posted by Scott Bridges in Media | 8 Comments

I wrote on Saturday about a smarter person than I coining the term “trollumnist” in response to a Miranda Devine article. That smarter person has now published a longer exploration of the phenomenon at newmatilda.com and it’s really, really good so you should go and read it.

‘If I Make You Angry Enough, Maybe You’ll Keep Reading’

Editors use flimsy commentary from ‘trollumnists’ like Miranda Devine to stir up outrage. But baiting readers in this way ultimately hurts your organisation, writes Jason Wilson

It used to be that to get your own column in a broadsheet, you needed to add some value. Expertise, skill in interpreting social and political developments, or a distinguished history as a journalist were rewarded with a bit more space in the paper. There, you could spin out a longer-form piece analysing burning issues in a little more depth, or you could even act as an advocate for things that weren’t on the public’s radar.

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Vegetarian cyclist hits back

Oct 31

Posted by Scott Bridges in Media | 13 Comments

Last week Sydney Morning Herald columnist Miranda Devine wrote a piece about how cyclists are all bastards who have no place on the road and how motorists would be justified in running them over and how she hopes they will all just fuck off.

Whoever made up the Roads and Traffic Authority’s 1990s slogan ”the road is there to share” has a lot to answer for. It’s a big fat lie. The road is not there to share. Roads are built for cars. Pretending otherwise is unfair to motorists and cyclists alike.

[...]

The ideologues who have fostered the road-sharing lie must think a few dead cyclists and pedestrians are a small price to pay for getting cars off the road, because that is their ultimate aim: to make driving so unpleasant, slow, expensive and fraught with hazards that motorists give up.

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