Comments on: Comment: The rise of ’smart’ or ‘not so smart’ internet mobs and their pressure on the media

By: ‘Twitter mobs’ on the BBC Radio 4 Moral Maze | Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:47:16 +0000

[...] weeks ago, John Mair raised the issue of mob action on this very blog in the wake of the Jan Moir episode, provoking criticism and further comment. Yesterday, he responded to some of the response, and [...]

By: lou

lou — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:01:37 +0000

I didn’t write to the PCC simply to join a baying mob. I wrote to them after reading Moir’s spiteful piece because I found it profound offensive (as a straight 30-something woman with no interest in boy bands). I know from having produced and commissioned documentaries for mainstream British media exactly how much power the media has in shaping what is and isn’t considered acceptable in terms of behaviour and values in our society. Reading Moir’s piece was like finding myself in an episode of ‘Life on Mars’ – I’m really proud that so many other people felt that the latent and overt homophobia and journalistic incompetence on display in this article were a problem worthy of complaint to the PCC.

By: Robert Hutchinson

Robert Hutchinson — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:42:18 +0000

The central argument about the virtual mob is illogical. Should people avoid protest in case the protest grows too big? No, people protest when they believe it is right to protest and the bigger the protest grows the stronger it is. A successful protest is not a mob.

By: Linda Roulston

Linda Roulston — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:04:26 +0000

As others have said, totally back to front. The Mail article was online, people heard about it, read it and reacted. The Ross/Brand debacle was orchestrated by the Mail as part of its anti-BBC agenda and involved complaints from people who had no idea what the tone of the broadcast had been, but reacted after being told they were offended. I’m not part of a ‘mob’, I’m a journalist of more than 30 years’ experience who found the article repellent and inaccurate, and responded accordingly.

By: MickGJ

MickGJ — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:55:31 +0000

There are many levels to the accusation of “orchestration”. One seems to imply that if you weren’t an original witness to the outrage–is you had to attention drawn to it by someone else–then your complaint is not as valid as, say someone whose unwitting ears were offended by the original Brand/Ross broadcast. But surely that’s only the case if you are complaining about your own personal offence, and not the hurt of others.

The second seems to be that this is actually nothing to do with the original piece “they haven’t even read it” but a vehicle for an interest group to build a platform. This certainly happens, viz. the form letters that regularly get emailed in over coverage of Israel, but people here seem to be expressing very personal outrage, and don’t on the whole seem to be gay.

I read the piece was utterly disgusted by it, but never got around to commenting on the Mail site or complaining to the PCC. There must be thousands like me.

Which brings me to the third level: the “orchestration” complaint suggests that the very volume of complaints in some way undermines their validity. In other words, it is possible to protest too much.

By: Ian Douglas

Ian Douglas — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:38:36 +0000

Your example’s a bit skew-whiff. Ross-Brand was an example of big media (the Mail) encouraging protest against something, and social media (the Facebook groups) querying what the fuss was about. It;s the direct opposite of the Jan Moir affair.

By: Strange Attractor » Blog Archive » John Mair demonstrates how to really not get it

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:50:24 +0000

[...] been occupying the UK Twittersphere for the last week, but I was made rather cross by this ill-judged and misinformed article by John Mair on Journalism.co.uk [...]

By: John Mair demonstrates how to really not get it

John Mair demonstrates how to really not get it — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:47:25 +0000

[...] been occupying the UK Twittersphere for the last week, but I was made rather cross by this ill-judged and misinformed article by John Mair on Journalism.co.uk [...]

By: links for 2009-10-19 « News, Software and All you need

links for 2009-10-19 « News, Software and All you need — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:00:04 +0000

[...] Comment: The rise of ’smart’ or ‘not so smart’ internet mobs and their pressure on the media… From the user comments: "There have been comments from people within the PCC in the media today, saying that most of the 21,000 complaints they have received appear to be individual letters, rather than a copied form letter. I think that’s an indication that this is a very organic storm, rather than something orchestrated." (tags: journalismcouk johnmair janmoir stephengately pcc dailymail) [...]

By: Cassandra Graham

Cassandra Graham — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:33:09 +0000

I didn’t complain about the article because Stephen Fry told me to. I complained about the article because it made me want to vomit, and I’m still mad just thinking about it. Every paragraph just kept getting worse and worse! It offended me most as a journalist (with a degree, not just self-proclaimed because I have a blog) that someone would (with so little skill I might add) so abuse the power and responsiblity they have.
Also, the tone of this article, which mirrors a number I have seen showing up online from various ‘we’re the only real journalists’ sources, leaves me with a strong impression that old media is feeling distinctly nervous about their readership having any kind of power or influence and from the title-on-down came off as increadibly condecending.
Might I add that the responses to Jan Moir and Carter-Ruck showed the Twitterverse as being quite ’smart’ and effective and that the stupider and less informed ’sachsgate’ was led by old media which seemed to be the one to have the ‘not so smart’ mob following them! The distinction here is that in this case the mob isn’t thinking what the newspapers tell them to think, and is acting and thinking on its own, and that’s got you all running scared.