Journalism

The picture (sorry its a bit dark) is of the stenciling Christine has been doing in the girls room. She finished it yesterday and I'm really impressed with it. Chris cut her own stencil based on a design from a book. This sort of decorating seems to have gone out of fashion recently.
This first thing I did here this morning was to comment on Mitch's blog about you tube. It caused me my to "tangent" off into journalism and a report I saw on the new recently about blogging. Blogging has become the new media. A leading editor (I think it was Piers Morgan) stated that there was a time when journalist had a closed shop. To be a jounalist was a specialist job and not something everyone could do. He then acknowledged that the secret is out now. Anyone can do it and be successful at it ie blogging. As a result, major newspapers (such as The Guardian) have their journalists blogging on their site in a (if you can't beat them, join them) kind of way. Written media has now become interactive. WE are now the media. Human stories, world events. on the ground reporting getting the story behind the story, human interest, comedy, reviews, competitions, sport, recipe's, politics, enviromental issues, religion, entertainment, theatre, quizzes, etc. etc.

Has blogging signed the death knell of traditional newspaper journalism? I guess they are adapting to survive. At least blogging brings in a broader opinion than just the opinion of a few.


Now the scribble.....

An Accident

I remember waking up crying. The first thing I saw was green canvas. I didn’t know why I was crying. I didn’t even know where I was, but my head hurt bad!

This episode occurred at my junior school when I was, I think about 8 or 9 years old. St Saviours School in Westgate was, in those days, an old-fashioned fairly traditional style building with a school yard and (what appeared to be) an ancient wall surrounding the school yard. I remember the wall being made of bricks and (sort of) craggy rocks. I guess rocks like that these days would have been smoothed over due to being identified as a health and safety risk. The school has a new building now in the field across the road and the old school has been converted into dwellings. The old timber classrooms have now been knocked down and replaced with quaint and stylish cottages. In those days we used to play games with marbles. I can remember rolling the marbles round the ridges of the drain in the centre of the yard with other lads. I seem to remember that we made up some kind of game out of it. The girls played games such as “jacks” comprising a rubber ball and sort of 3 dimensional crosses about half an inch square. Sometimes we would run around the school yard playing chasing games; acting out perhaps world war II fighter planes or cowboys and Indians.

This is one day that I have no memory of going to school, getting out of bed even! Maybe I’d been playing marbles round that little drain. Maybe I’d been knocked against that craggy wall. I was told on that day as I came round that another child had run into me and knocked me over. I’d hit my head so hard, I had suffered concussion. I’d been carried into the lobby outside our headmasters office and put on a kind of camp bed made of green canvas. My parent had been called and they came to collect me to take be home. My head hurt for the rest of the day, but I don’t ever remember having a bump on it. I was told I might be sick later that day, and sure enough I was. Funnily enough, I’d not been taken to hospital or the doctors. At least I don’t remember so. Again, these days I suspect this would be done as a matter of course. I do sometimes wonder though, whether this little accident had caused me to sometimes suffer with short term memory loss. I think that is unlikely really but then again I suppose it could have been possible. Its strange what little life episodes remain with you though……

The video today is one that raises my spirits. Rumour has it Stevie Wonder played the mouth organ bit at the end...

Comments

(9 total)

so, what are you saying, in your scribble, that you been a head banger from waaaaaaaaay back?lol.
My knock out blow occured on the footy field. My dad had advised I take up soccer as it wasntconsidered a voilent game.......until I got clouted......lmao

Sunday 17 September 2006 - 07:12AM (PDT)

Love the stencilling, I'm never a great one to follow in fashions, I have stencilling in my kitchen. I rember 'Jacks' very well, and the boys all played cowboys and indians too when I was at school. I think as well, that if we were to go back to those time, the health and safety authorities would have an absolute field day, but thats what's made us the way we are, we learned that things hurt, and we got dirty, and didnt suffer too much from not having anibacterial handwashes and antibac cleaners etc. I sometimes think that times have changed but not always for the better on some things....

Sunday 17 September 2006 - 03:22PM (BST)

Ooooo yeah, Ooooo yeah, Ooooo yeah... I like this song/video too. That is one talented angel. LOL

Sunday 17 September 2006 - 12:02PM (CDT)

Nice blog Marty, I dont think newspapers are anywhere near going out of business but I do agree as people can be their own journalists the they are gonna have to adapt.

Sunday 17 September 2006 - 10:50PM (BST)

Memory is a funny thing. Well, mine is anyway!! I can remember in great detail things which happened when I was young (a long time ago lol) and yet I can go to the shops for two items and come back having forgotten one of them. Premature senility perhaps?
Thanks for the link to my blog and your comment on it. I was hoping that particular subject would spark off a debate but the response was a little muted.

Sunday 17 September 2006 - 11:45PM (BST)

By the way, glad you liked the vid I found of the Colonel's long-lost older brother. I am currently on the trail of a couple of other relatives of his. More news shortly........

Sunday 17 September 2006 - 11:47PM (BST)

1. You have a talented wife.
2. Great observations on the power of bloggers and levelling the playing fields in terms of what gets spoken and who gets heard.

Your scribble reminds me of the time I tried to jump into a pool backwards when I was 8. I hit my chin on the edge of the pool and was knocked unconscious. Hmmm. That might explain a lot of things...

Monday 18 September 2006 - 12:14AM (EDT)

I agree with Sharron, School days were really good years ago and the kids of today are missing out on so much and yes Christine is quite gifted - the stensil are good.

Monday 18 September 2006 - 05:28PM (BST)

I think newspapers should get out of the business of "opinion" and get back to hard journalism. Digging for stories and using the access that we dont have to leaders etc I think should be the job of print media. Let us have the opinions, let them get back to facts. Maybe we wouldn't be in such a mess now if that was the case.

Tuesday 19 September 2006 - 03:37PM (CDT