In Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, the word Belgium is not to be used gratuitous. The actors spit out the word "Belgium" every time they drink a hideous cocktail "that tastes like lemon wrapped around a gold brick". Nevertheless Belgium is, at least in the US version of the movie, described as "the very flat country, with all the EEC and the fog", and "a perfectly innocent if slightly dull European country".
But lately I felt nothing but shame whenever "Belgium" kept showing up in the international headlines as a result of the copiepresse vs google court case. And it just got worse: after the French-speaking newspapers in Belgium, the Belgian journalist's association also saw an opportunity to challenge an online giant. One Luc Smeesters attacks a one-month old MSN.be campaign which calls for "citizen journalists", using a slogan like "become an MSN reporter".
Here's the French: MSN – Gâche métier !. Watch for random usage of buzzwords like INFOGLUT (in capitals!) and ProAm. I don't know who Luc Smeesters is, but I imagine him standing on the barricades, his chest half bare, shouting to his comrade journalists and warning them about the evil that is citizen journalism.
Found via Olivier De Doncker's blog: Les journalistes doivent-ils craindre les digg-like?
20070216
blog comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
