The irony is in the coincidence. I read the strip, thought "yeah, exactly the same with journalists and furry. That's worth a blog entry." And before I even post it, I learn about that opinion piece.
The bug report would be more about defects of journalism itself. For example, of American journalism: it is not acceptable to spread lies and hearsay just because you can do it in an opinion piece. It is not a balanced report because an absurd counter-opinion is presented. German journalism with its delusion to educate the supposedly ignorant public is even more broken, though.
Remember? One of the reason we did the Polylux thing was to avoid something like that to happen. ;-)
Besides, the report was done when Polylux still was cool. It went downhill about half a year later, and got unbearable to watch while Tita von Hardenberg was on parental leave.
Polylux is a German "young lifestyle" TV magazine, broadcast weekly late night on public television, which covers alternative lifestyles, subcultures and the occasional political topic. The attitude is often slightly ironic, but they usually don't hurt even those they make fun of.
In last week's issue they found a new "trend": drug abuse (Speed in this case) to increase one's personal performance. One of the guys they interviewed, "Tim," was a fake: he set up a web page, on which he claimed that he were trying to lose weight by taking Speed, to lure journalists researching drug abuse. A quick research would have revealed that what he writes and says is completely made up. There are so many inconsistencies in his story (thrown in on purpose,) that everyone seriously researching the topic must become suspicous of it. But all they did was using Google to find "Tim", interview him and declare it a new "trend."
What "Tim" wanted to demonstrate is that not paying journalists properly (some production companies even "employ" unpaid interns) will inevitable result in poor reports, allowing pranksters and interested parties to sell virtually any story to the media, as long as it sounds somewhat believable.
More importantly, most of the current comments show that people are applying common sense to what he has to say. I do get the impression that Furry's image is recovering from its nadir of some years ago. Do you feel that way too?
Absolutely. Perhaps due to a couple of reasons: the larger furry conventions have become an economic factor which is hard to ignore. Less for the Bay Area (where they have plenty of business and fan conventions,) more for Pittsburgh and even Suhl. Next, we finally have excellent artists who are willing to promote themselves and their art instead of hiding in a dark closet. And of course, actively responding to media requests, telling them what we have to offer and stop talking about what we are not, certainly has some positive effect.
But there are still plenty of journalists out there who just don't get it, regardless what you tell them.
Oh look, Anonymous got bored with Scientology again.
*snort*
What I find hilarious is that I-Con is actually moving to a bigger, better venue. Stonybrook campus is a cesspool, and they're a LOT better off going somewhere else.
Comments
tchk.livejournal.com 16 years ago
Oh come on, it's only a campus paper, and then an opinion piece in it. That's not a bug worth its fixing cost.
Link | Replywoelfisch.livejournal.com 16 years ago
The irony is in the coincidence. I read the strip, thought "yeah, exactly the same with journalists and furry. That's worth a blog entry." And before I even post it, I learn about that opinion piece.
The bug report would be more about defects of journalism itself. For example, of American journalism: it is not acceptable to spread lies and hearsay just because you can do it in an opinion piece. It is not a balanced report because an absurd counter-opinion is presented. German journalism with its delusion to educate the supposedly ignorant public is even more broken, though.
Link | Replycheetah-spotty.livejournal.com 16 years ago
Well, remember Polylux? We should have done the same thing like these guys here :)
Link | Replywoelfisch.livejournal.com 16 years ago
Remember? One of the reason we did the Polylux thing was to avoid something like that to happen. ;-)
Besides, the report was done when Polylux still was cool. It went downhill about half a year later, and got unbearable to watch while Tita von Hardenberg was on parental leave.
Link | Replystickmaker.livejournal.com 16 years ago
Okay, that is well beyond my limited German. (Sorry, Great-Grandmother Koch.)
Can someone provide an English translation, or a synopsis?
Link | Replywoelfisch.livejournal.com 16 years ago
Polylux is a German "young lifestyle" TV magazine, broadcast weekly late night on public television, which covers alternative lifestyles, subcultures and the occasional political topic. The attitude is often slightly ironic, but they usually don't hurt even those they make fun of.
In last week's issue they found a new "trend": drug abuse (Speed in this case) to increase one's personal performance. One of the guys they interviewed, "Tim," was a fake: he set up a web page, on which he claimed that he were trying to lose weight by taking Speed, to lure journalists researching drug abuse. A quick research would have revealed that what he writes and says is completely made up. There are so many inconsistencies in his story (thrown in on purpose,) that everyone seriously researching the topic must become suspicous of it. But all they did was using Google to find "Tim", interview him and declare it a new "trend."
What "Tim" wanted to demonstrate is that not paying journalists properly (some production companies even "employ" unpaid interns) will inevitable result in poor reports, allowing pranksters and interested parties to sell virtually any story to the media, as long as it sounds somewhat believable.
Link | Replystickmaker.livejournal.com 16 years ago
Okay, thanky!
Yeah, definitely need to file a ticket on this problem. :-)
Link | Replyfootpad.livejournal.com 16 years ago
Reading Berkman's article, I suddenly find myself noticing how his name sounds in British slang!
More importantly, most of the current comments show that people are applying common sense to what he has to say. I do get the impression that Furry's image is recovering from its nadir of some years ago. Do you feel that way too?
Link | Replywoelfisch.livejournal.com 16 years ago
Absolutely. Perhaps due to a couple of reasons: the larger furry conventions have become an economic factor which is hard to ignore. Less for the Bay Area (where they have plenty of business and fan conventions,) more for Pittsburgh and even Suhl. Next, we finally have excellent artists who are willing to promote themselves and their art instead of hiding in a dark closet. And of course, actively responding to media requests, telling them what we have to offer and stop talking about what we are not, certainly has some positive effect.
But there are still plenty of journalists out there who just don't get it, regardless what you tell them.
Link | Replyionotter.livejournal.com 16 years ago
Oh look, Anonymous got bored with Scientology again.
*snort*
What I find hilarious is that I-Con is actually moving to a bigger, better venue. Stonybrook campus is a cesspool, and they're a LOT better off going somewhere else.
Link | ReplyNew Comment