To the point: irritant words
Last week, Martin Hitz posted a small story on Medienspiegel.ch about a correction in Weltwoche. It was about the confusion of a perfume brand in an article.
Nothing earth-shattering, the message was - so it seemed to me - meant ironically. But then it started. The word "Weltwoche" is an irritant for all self-appointed media critics. That's when all the blog commenters' alarm bells rang and their keyboards began to glow. Within a short time, there were ten comments. But anyone who now thinks that the comments have something to do with the matter is seriously mistaken or does not know the generally valid mechanism of blog comments.
It is usually the case that the first two or three comments deal with the matter at hand. The more time goes on, the less it is about the incriminated facts. Who cares about that. It's all about mutual sniping, indirect or direct insults and, of course, self-profiling. In addition to
"Weltwoche," there are, of course, other appeal words. One that also works very well is "quality in journalism". That's where the action is and you can let off steam: Journalist haters go after blog despisers.
Blog lovers piss off journalists. Fronts are forming. Sparks fly. The fact that the opponents often know each other, or at least know or think they know who is behind the pseudonyms, makes things even more exciting. Now you can finally get down to business and punch the unloved opponent or the current or former colleague in the face. It's amazing how much time people have for this kind of thing. From the "professional commentary" now to the quite normal "civil commentary". To study best on Blick.ch. The same mechanisms apply to amateurs as to professionals. Who cares what the article says, after five more or less article-related comments, it's down to business here too. The only thing that changes are the irritant words. Popular irritant words here are "Alex Frei", "FCB", "referee". But "Blocher" and "foreigner" are also popular. "Fighting dog," on the other hand, is no longer doing so well.
What I like about the whole thing is that for once the professionals are taking an example from the amateurs. So no one should say anymore that media critics are out of touch. Here, too, real life shows itself.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
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