Ah well, it was only a matter of time, I suppose, until someone, somewhere started whingeing that the blogosphere is sexist and that women don't get the advantages that men do.

It appears that much of the "conversation" at the recent: BlogHer conference in San Francisco was of the "glass ceiling" which is holding women back from the success they deserve.

“Women get dismissed in ways that men don’t,” said Megan McArdle, an associate editor at The Atlantic Monthly... She added that women are taught not to be aggressive and analytical in the way that the political blogosphere demands, and are more likely to receive blog comments on how they look, rather than what they say.

er ... I'm sorry, I must have missed the point here: is there a men-only bloggers' forum somewhere? Is there something in the rules that means that womens' blogs carry less weight than mens'? Isn't the Web the great leveller - if the content is  worthwhile then people will link to it and the site will get traffic.

Or is it part of the great military/industrial conspiracy? Answers on a postcard please...

Jumping the Shark

The big question they should have been asking at BlogHer was: is blogging about to jump the shark? For about a decade, the blogosphere was home to a bunch of clever, dedicated people (like my mate Tim Blair whose politics are appalling but whose posts are extremely funney. The suddenly it seemed to reach critical mass and everyone and his dog has a blog site. Including me. Admittedly, my dog only has a Facebook page, but it won't be long before he's growling away somewhere in cyberspace about organic lamb bones and how cats these days are pussies.

Duncan Riley now believes there are more than 50 million blogs wordwlde. He adds this caveat:

"it’s remiss of me not to note that a significant portion of the blogs are most likely abondoned or spam blogs, or that the figures are not likely to be represented in actual bloggers (multiple blogs per blogger), however I do this exercise from time to time as a means of noting that many in the mainstream media continue to under report the number of blogs in existence and the aim of this post is to articulate a more accurate figure."

Apparently the average number of blog posts is three after which people tend to get bored, tired or both.

Media in the Pub

Fair play to Fergus Pitt, he of the Fergle blog which has just poked its head above the parapet. He's running an event in Sydney on August 26, Media in the Pub - which combines two of my great interests. I'll be there and am hoping for a healthy turn out of people.

Maybe we are not all doomed after all

Have a look at this study of media use in Britain. Okay, so they are not in the same boat as Australia, well we have a bit of catching up to do - but according to  the UK's Institute of Practise in Advertising, newspapers are holding up okay in spite of the onslaught from online.

"Ninety-one percent of adults prefer to read their national newspaper's print edition."

Doncha love the Brits? And adults, of course...

Media Watch - damned if you do, dozy if you don't

Normally I love Media Watch - it's one of the unmissable programs of the week and performs an invaluable public service in keeping the bastards honest. But they got a wee bit prune-faced about the Courier Mail's Nathan Richter who - it appears - was the only Australian snapper to get a useable shot of Jayant Patel en route back from LA.

But the real prize for pig-headed chutzpah goes to the Courier-Mail, whose photographer Nathan Richter managed to snap Patel in his seat while QF 176 was still on the apron in L.A. Richter was determined to send the pic to his newsroom before the flight took off.

Er .. correct me if I am wrong, but the job of a newspaper photographer is to get the shot and file it, however he or she can. In the past that has meant snappers putting themselves in harms way. How would nathan have looked if his editor had wanted to know why he didn't send in the shots and he said: "I was told not to by a flight attendant". Fair play to Qantas, too, but the story is of significant interest and the Courier scooped the field - with a little civil disobedience.

Author's note: I worked with David Fagan for some years and he has always struck me as a pretty fair-minded sort of a bloke and certainly not someone who would leave an employee hanging out to dry.  

Save Our Subs - a progress report

Now 151 members of our international campaign to preserve the gentle art of sub-editing. We're attracted some quality (you know who you are) but a recent puff in the Guardian won't have gone amiss. And here - in a shameless attempt to get some healthy numbers to the site, is a link to the Giles Coren email that started all the kerfuffle...  

toodles

SO here are some of my fave links from the past few days...

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