Columnists who write about their own lives are rubbish. Aside from Dom Joly, I can’t bear to read a single word written. Tracey Emin can naff off.
Cath Janes hilariously agrees…
Nothing makes me wave my fist in the air quite as much as the I-lost-my-sock-in-the-wash toss spewed out by writers who think that the minutae of their daily lives is of even vague interest to anyone but themselves. Please, write about being hit by a train, the perils of bigamy or becoming a lion tamer but do not bother me with another tale of how burdened you are by having to find a lampshade that matches your bloody curtains.
YES!
4 Comments on “If you’re a columnist, look away now!”
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This blog is written by Dave Lee. I am a technology journalist for the
Don’t take this the wrong way, but surely a blog is, in essence, the same thing? Perhaps it is not quite so personal as a column, but it is still merely your opinion on matters.
Posted on December 19, 2007 at 7:48 pm.
See… I thought that too, but blogging usually deals with a particular issue or subject area. I’m not against people giving their opinion, obviously, but it’s on things that have no bearing on any sort of bigger picture. And that’s bloody annoying, no?
Posted on December 19, 2007 at 8:03 pm.
I don’t know, I never read columns.
It must be difficult, though, to define ‘the bigger picture’, especially when you are required to provide some kind of original comment on a weekly basis. Also, some of the results, although inane, are occasionally just as comical as Cath Janes’ comments. I agree, though, that the columnists who try to sound like experts; try to sound like we really should give a damn about what they think about any topic, regardless of how much they know about, can be very tedious and annoying.
That is where blogs have the slight advantage. You are narrowing your scope down to just one area where you have some expertise. Instead of trying to provide informed comment on topics as diverse as, for example, the McCann case one week, troop movements in Afghanistan the next and how tediously pointless Sudoku is the next, you can talk with confidence about one specific area whenever you have something informed and interesting to say.
Posted on December 20, 2007 at 12:40 am.
Great post, Dave — particularly because so many people, including journalists who should know better, often accuse blogs of being self-indulgent rubbish.
A blog, like a newspaper column, is just a medium that can be used for all sorts of content.
Bad blogs, like bad newspaper columns, are self-indulgent crap
But good blogs, like good newspaper columns, provide an expert’s or practitioner’s insight on issues in some niche topic.
The difference between bad bloggers and bad columnists is that most of the former are generally not paid make no pretense of being professional writers. Which makes the latter that much more inexcusable.
Posted on December 20, 2007 at 9:08 am.