So, we had some good press in Crikey today. Makes a nice change. It's been interesting watching the reaction to Tim Dunlop's announcement about the blog he'll be writing on news.com.au from next week.
The comments on Tim's post varied from the how-could-you-write-for-them variety to the congratulations-wish-it-was-me type. My favourite was this one: "Congratulations Tim. I’m with Amanda. Working on a Murdoch web site is about as impure as driving a VW, using MS Software, drinking Guinness or watching Dylan do a blistering Lovesick at the Emmys."
For anyone who doesn't know Road to Surfdom, Tim writes one of the more intelligent, long running and, yes, popular blogs in the Ozblogosphere.
It's going to be an interesting ride for him, and I do hope that his more sceptical readers will come to see that writing a blog on news.com.au can be a win win. Certainly there'll be no attempts to curtail anything he would naturally do on Surfdom.
And for the record, no one in News Ltd has played any part in this. It's come about simply from Tim and I talking.
A throwaway line at the end of Margaret Simons' piece is worth highlighting:
"At the very least, the News Limited move suggests that a back door into journalism is ajar. Don’t want to do a communications course followed by a cadetship to break into journalism? Consider starting up a blog – if you can make it good enough to get noticed."
Well, it's not a "News Ltd move". It's just one arrangement on a News interactive site. But quibbles aside, my feeling is that this is absolutely true. And will become more so.
It has actually always been possible, but it does require that MSM editors and publishers actually read blogs - apart from the few who always have. Once they start it'll be game on ... as they say.
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