The voice of treason...

An unintentionally amusing column in today's Hull Daily Mail by 'the Voice of Reason', demonstrating how woefully out of touch they are when it comes to modern methods of communication. Twitter, says the Mail, "points to the pointlessness that modern technology allows us". And this, remember, from a newspaper dubbed UK Multimedia Publisher of the Year. "Given the numbers of people now getting sacked (being made redundant, surely!) the Voice wonders whether these sites are filled with the bored unemployed," the Mail whitters on, tediously. "Or," it bemusingly harps on, "disturbingly, if the trend points to a bizarre new world in which no one really communicates by talking anymore, but just sends text messages." The Mail pleads with those that like to tweet, who won't, obviously, be reading, "Don't bother clogging up the Internet highways with your junk" 'the Voice' insists. Clogging up the Internet highways?! How fucking old is 'the Voice' and has s/he ever been online? Meanwhile, blogging is described as a "distinctly odd phenomenon". Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. But hardly a surprise - a traditional media organisation is never going to support the democratisation of publishing, is it? Nor just accept a threat to advertising revenues and readership without a fight (the Daily Mail's constant scare stories about Facebook and the evil internet appear with irritating regularity). Nor advocate the dissemination of free information. The regional Mail needs to remind itself that newspapers are in terminal decline and bonkers columns like this pretty much provide the reason why. It's a miracle they ever stopped using hot metal at Northcliffe. Adapt or die, you prehistoric editors. And realise that Twitter and other online applications, tools and methods of social networking and communication are not just meaningless chatter but part of a growing culture of sharing information, of telling people what's happening, where, as soon as you can. Y'know, a bit like newspapers used to be. Before they started to feel superfluous and on the verge of obsolescence. Still, 'the Voice' is the voice of the UK Multimedia Publisher of the Year, so I suppose s/he must know better than a mere blogger and twitterer.