WORDCOUNT002:
ilm is saying that the VV music editor was fired for running a section that was "too academic."
i will say in passing that i have been told that if i want to stay in academia that my writing must become "less journalistic."
i believe in smart, thoughtful and engaged writing about contemporary culture by brilliant minds with dedication to craft. i believe that people come from all parts of the writing world to do this. i believe that spirited debate about culture is good for the mind and that it should go on at every level of discourse from newspapers to classrooms. i believe language should be no more or less complex than it needs to make its point. i am worried for the future of reading about popular music.
all this on the day the 2006 pulitzers were announced. positively orwellian.
i'm feeling you daphne. i've been trying to figure out what to say about it and how on my blog...anxiety compounded by the fact that i work for VVM and my employers know my blog. is having to consider that a symptom of the bigger problem, or is the internet just not the place for my thoughts? thanks for summing up the sitch so nicely.
That reminds me of something Simon Reynolds wrote near the end of Rip It Up. He mentioned how, after post-punk, music writing became relentlessly specific (this band, that album...), by which I think he means there's been a continuing trend away from actual "music writing," towards basic album reviews and band profiles.
most newspapers are actually written exactly for a sixth grade level of reading comprehension. i don't know what it means exactly, but i have a sneaking feeling that it means less 'critical thinking' and more "features."
the upcoming emp pop con is going to be very strange this year. gallows humor.
wow, and wow.
(dunno if this means anything, but the random letter word verification Blogger gave me for this comment is "ilm in yen")
"too academic." Wow, that sounds loaded. What does that mean, that pieces were written for people with higher than sixth grade reading comprehension skills? Perhaps "too academic" means "not enough like Pitchfork." Damn, now I'm in the mood to go read some k-punk.