As London burns and gangs of hooded youths take to the streets to loot shops for sneakers, phones and Xbox 360s, the tech press has tut-tutted and blamed….Twitter. And BlackBerry messenger.
After all, if not for Twitter or BBM, what would the tech press write about the riots? What link bait could we possibly use to turn the tragedy to our advantage? Don’t act so surprised; journalism thrives on sensationalist rubbish like this. No one said it was a respected profession anymore, Mr Murdoch has made sure of that.
So why bother looking for reasons when tech journalists can easily [lazily] blame social media or BlackBerry for London’s disenfranchised youth hitting up the franchises for new TVs.
Was social media what done it, innit? And while we’re at it, I blame the bloody violent video games, because that’s not an overly used cliché either, eh? Or the heavy metal music, yes, I’m sure some of the rioters are death metal fans. Or maybe we should blame rap, since Jay-Z uses a BlackBerry.
Some days I’m truly disgusted by my colleagues in the industry, these ambulance chasers of tech tabloidization. “Norway massacre – we take a look at killer’s tweets!” “BBM to blame for London riots!” “Twitter should be sued for role in looting!” – Give me a break. This isn’t journalism, it’s pathetic.
** As a postscript, RIM has already said it will co-operate with London police to pass on as much information as it can on those purportedly using BBM to incite riots. More on that over at CrackBerry**
