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September 20th to 22nd 2010 the United Nations gather in New York to evaluate progress on the Millennium Development Goals. To help create a buzz and to experiment with new media European Journalism Center is hosting the TH!NK ABOUT IT #3: Developing World blogging project.
About 100 new media geeks and independent experts got through the eye of the needle and have been blogging for a couple of months now. I'm one of them, and although I'd like to invite you over to my column what I would like to do here is present you to some of my fellow th!nkers. For now just three of those that have already attained some success and have impressed me in various ways. If you want to know how to blog then reading a bit of their wisdom below might be a good start.
How is the End Poverty campaign doing? How will blogging change media? I have asked Johan Knols, safari specialist and professional wildlife guide from the Netherlands, Clare Herbert, development consultant from Ireland and Luan Galani, journalist and student from Brazil.
Seriously: why do you do it? Spend hours researching and writing just for a few hundred hits to your blog while millions read tabloid nonsense every single day?
Clare: I do it because I love to write. I'd go nuts if I didn't. I'm convinced that getting a writing job in the 21st century requires a good blog, complete with a bulging portfolio and lots of skill. I think good debate and incisive comment is always worthwhile and blogging gives me an opportunity to write on my terms. I love having readers, but I love to write even more.
Luan: First, I’m driven by a passion for telling stories of under-reported topics that can change, be it society or a single mind. Secondly, that is the beginning of my career as a development journalist. I’ve always admired development journalists, like Gourevitch, Fisk, Lee Anderson, Seierstad, Sites, Seifert and many others. Let’s make one thing clear: I’ve never had time for heroes ;) I’ve always been doing that because that is the media I want, that is what our society needs. We can not let the fact that millions over the world read tabloid nonsense demoralize us. It has to be faced as a challenge. A global challenge to change the glut of somewhat credible and often sensational information that clogs our day-to-day agenda.
Johan: Good question. It challenges me to focus and it gives me a feeling to be on top of things. Of course it is nice if people read my articles but unfortunately that guarantee is never there.
If you would have to choose one MDG to work on, which would it be? Which of the eight is the most important to you?
Luan: If I were obliged to choose only one, I would pick up [MDG1] Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. I tended to pick this because it is what more afflicts Brazil at present. However, I strongly believe every single of these goals are equally crucial. They are essentially interconnected and thus they depend on one another.
Clare: I'd like MDG 8: Establish a global partnership for development, dealing with Aid, Trade and debt. I think that the way we approach the problems of the developing world are fundamentally flawed. I think fairer trade practices and end to aid are the first steps towards economic equality.
Johan: I would like to work on partnerships between the West and the South [MDG8]. Especially when it comes to inform Africans in the tourism industry to make use of the WWW. If they don't hook on with the developments on the web, they will never win the battle to become self-supportive in tourism. And it already starts by just having a functioning website. But the most important MGD for me is bioDIEversity.
Do you agree that the MDGs are nearly solved and that the 1st world is living up to its promises? How do you see the other big global problems in the context of the MDGs - climate change, financial instability, global insurgency etc?
Clare: Not at all. The MDGS are a useful concept (particularly in my work as a development educator/facilitator) but the goals are not being reached and that is a big concern to me.
Johan: No, we are not any way near solving our problems and although we are making some progress on some MGD's, there is still a lot of work to be done.
What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write? What do you surround yourself with in your work area in order to help your concentrate? Does your articles take days or weeks or do you just sit down, type and publish?
Clare: It depends. I keep a running list of articles I want to write and go through them methodically. I'm always thinking up new concepts and ideas and I never run out of things to say. I've about 100 things on my 'To Write' list right now. Sometimes, I just get a bolt of inspiration, write something in one sitting and then publish it. But mostly, I spend time editing and polishing and publish a day or two later. My work area is very clean and organized. I keep my daily plan in front of me, as well as some quotes and images that inspire me.
Luan: Before sitting down I always chew the ideas over very much. Then, I first structure it in my mind, trying to gather as much different elements as I can, from books, movies, exhibitions etc. But only elements that can add valuable information. Not just putting new things simply for putting and flossing. I tend very much to listen to music when writing. Classical music, a capella German bands and Bossa Nova have always proved to be good for my concentration. After my article is finished, I need the extreme opposite – silence – to read it loud and read and read it over. Normally, it takes days or weeks, simply because well-written and thought provoking articles take time to be done. I believe it is like a polishing process, making it little by little. Inverting paragraphs, changing words, crossing out some parts, including them again, thinking in the images. It will never be perfect to the last detail, but, at least, it will often be more suitable to be digested.
Johan: Writing for Think3 or my own 'planyoursafari-blog' is always a challenge. At some days the ideas come in waves, on other days my imagination is bone dry. Especially after one has written more articles on a certain topic, the head-breaking for more ideas becomes bigger. (Something that we can clearly see on the Th!nk platform in my opinion). BUT...once the idea is there I sit down, do some extra reading, and start to write. So for me, most time is lost by thinking about what to write.
What do you think are the basic ingredients of a story/article? What elements do you see too often in other writers' news or blogs that you don't like?
Johan: The basic ingredients for a (blog) post are: correct spelling, not too much distraction in the form of different fonds and colouring. A few images and video are always nice to watch. In my opinion it is nice when a post breathes the opinion of the writer. Real news should be accurate and unbiased. Blogposts can and often should have the signature of the writer in it to increase the debate.
Luan: Well, I reckon that it has to be well-written, well organized, well structured, trying to grab your attention always. It can not look to have been written ten minutes ago. At the end, we have to notice the main point, the purpose of that article. The articles I do not like are those which do not go further, beyond the basic common sense, have a messy visual appearance, seem to have been posted only to increase the writer's number of posts. I also think that personal stories or experiences mixed with the rest make the article more gripping.
Clare: I think that bloggers' biggest flaw is writing way too much. People tend to write reams and reams of stuff that no-one ever reads. Writing for the web is about being short, pithy and incisive. No-one reads long articles online, unless they are by amazing (and usually well-known) writers. That would be my one piece of advice. When you've written your article, halve it before publication.
Does reader feed-back help you? Do you really appreciate comments at all?
Luan: Broadly speaking, it really helps me. The compliments and thanks encourage me to maintain the standard or improve it. But what really helps me are the comments that ask for more. More of some information, more of my local reality. And other comments let me chuffed when triggering healthy discussions. Through discussions we can get better results. I prefer the last ones, and I really expect of them.
Clare: I definitely appreciate comments, but I don't set out to get them. To me, comments are a sign that someone read your piece and felt compelled to respond. That's a compliment to me. But, if I wrote to get comments, I wouldn't be satisfied by the writing process. I don't ever set out to be controversial, I just want to say what I think.
Johan: Reader feed-back always helps and I find it therefore important to receive comments. Not only does it help in the Google rankings, but that is the whole aim of writing: trying to engage the public. One downside is that too many people use comments to vent their own frustration. Something I sometimes see on the Th!nk platform as well.
If "old media" all went bankrupt how would you feel? Guilty or do you want this to happen? Is the blogosphere sustainable or bloodsucking? What is the difference between a blogger and a journalist?
Johan: Why would I feel guilty if the old media disappear? They have the same opportunities as every blogger and if they loose readers, it could mean that they are doing something wrong or that they should change their tactics. As said before, a blogger is allowed to air his opinion. A journalist should stick to the truth as close as possible.
Clare: I'd be devastated. There are so many great newspapers, radio stations and TV programs that I love and would dearly miss if they went out of business. I think the blogosphere is sustainable - the best writing gets highlighted and many people are satisfied blogging for pleasure rather than for profit/career development. I was a journalist before I was a blogger and I don't see much difference between the two, to be honest. I certainly don't think journalists are the bad guys.
Luan: Honestly? I do not know. I wouldn’t feel guilty or glad at all. I wouldn’t be on the extremes. I believe the old media have to exist. Somebody needs to do the to-do, the ‘bureaucratic’ pieces of news, hard news, the worst part of the job. I think more editorial will is needed to publish other stories. Editors and reporters have to be open-minded for new approaches and for a more human journalism, digging facts, researching for hours on end, delving into the reality which is not that of them, not being so superficial, so office-based, chained to what is ‘allowed to be said’. It has already proven not to bear any fruit. I believe the blogosphere will be sustainable until the day the old media suffer a drastic transformation. Ok, we have these freedom corners where everything is possible to be said (and forever we will have such corners), but I am talking about the alternative role that the blogosphere is playing. Take for example Global Voices. Blogs, I believe, since old media change, tend not to be so energetic anymore, like what it is today: a seething mass of posts showing the stark reality. The traditional media thus will take over. First, generally speaking, journalists make a living from it, most bloggers do not. Bearing that in mind, journalists have the time and availability to travel to the field in order to cover issues and check facts. Regarding ethics, both bloggers and journalists can be ethical. The risk of not being ethical is the same for both. We can say they are not the same if we take into consideration these formal subtleties. However, putting it aside, which most is a fierce and blind defense of the class, bloggers and journalists are the same. Blogging is undermining long held notions of journalism and we can not help it.
Have you met people online that you regularly read, communicate with or get comments from and would consider a "contact" that you at the same time fundamentally disagree with on important topics.
Johan: I have met some people online. But not people I disagree with fundamentally.
Clare: I certainly have friends that blog and keep in touch with certain professional contacts via their blogs. I often read people I disagree with. I think it's important to see the other side of the argument too.
Luan: I have met some people, but not people I disagree with.
Many journalists are unemployed or serving coffee. What should they do?
Johan: A bit of a strange question. Many bankers are unemployed at the moment. What should they do?
Clare: They should start a blog and write regularly. They should get out there and network. They should find their passion and follow it regardless of what other people think. They should find friends who have been successful and they should believe in their talents. They should also endeavour to help others and contribute to the world we live in.
Luan: It is recurrent in many other professions today. There is a wild battle for jobs. Well, to begin with, it is necessary to explain a few things. Take the example of a teacher. If she is the teacher, what is automatically implied? It is implied that she/he detains more knowledge than his/her students. It has to work the same way for the journalist. We work with information and knowledge – fundamental for everyone –, so we are expected to know more than our readers, always. That is the first thing to be sought out for the unemployed journalists: information and knowledge of all types. Secondly, journalism is about telling the right story, the right way. The following is me paraphrasing what I’ve read in a handbook recently. What is needed is a new style of writing. Covering news with parroted reports, regurgitating previously published information about familiar issues is over. This form of journalism is useful for informing the general public about basic facts, but does little to improve the global understanding of important global events. History – not journalism – is the business of repeating previously stated information. Such journalists have to learn this new way of doing journalism. And last but not least, they have to be full of passion. An intense passion for our human world.
If you could have the world read one of your articles, which should it be?
Clare: I think my piece on Volunteering overseas is the one I'm most proud of and also the piece that generated the most debate. I worry that well-meaning westerners are deflected limited resources away from the real needs of developing countries and NGOs are exploiting both developing communities and do gooder-types. I want volunteers to question the value of their time overseas.
Johan: World Cup Soccer 2010: A Kick In The Nuts Of The Poor. Not because this article is doing so well on Th!nk3, but for the reason that a lot of lies and promises surrounded the last world cup soccer. The FIFA is more powerful than a lot of governments and this is something which is very wrong.
Luan: What a tricky question! I’ve never thought about that. Wow, that’s extremely challenging. I’m not 100% sure, but, respecting the limit of one article you’ve drawn, I think it would be “Taking off for whom?”.
TH!NK3 has been enormous and I can very well have missed great bloggers. Who is missing from this interview, who do you recommend I hurry up and read?
Luan: Having TH!NK 3 in mind, those who have also explored it very well, in my opinion, are Iris, Bart and Robert. Iris, for exploring the best human side with poignantly human stories (picturing the whole situation in the Philippines), and Bart and Robert, for insightful, thought provoking posts. If I had to pick only one, I’d rather Iris for certain.
Clare: I've really enjoyed some of the articles written by Jodi Bush, particularly the one on vegetarianism.
You can follow the United Nations Millennium Development Goals on Twitter and Facebook. As well as read TH!NK3, of course.
Besides at TH!NK3 you can follow Johan Knols at planyoursafari.com, Luan Galani at WAVE magazine and Clare Herbert at clareherbert.ie.
According to I Write Like both Clare's and Johan's styles resembles David Foster Wallace while Luan's is close to Daniel Defoe.
