Jayvee Fernandez on Malu Fernandez’s latest on blogging

Malu Fernandez, the writer who has spurred the wrath of the OFW blogosphere has written an article on blogging. I wrote my fairly fair coverage of that event and now I’m going to ride on the search engine stream of sharing her last name with my own thoughts on her article:

Just this morning I got a text telling me to check out some blog with juicy gossip about the so called “Gucci Gang” curiously enough I logged on and read all the gossip and juicy details. Whether or not the stories were true I didn’t really care to find out nor do I care to be involved.

Dear Malu, the reality is that blogs meant to harm divulge gossip can’t be controlled. A lot of writers, stylists, editors, and photographers in the publishing industry are thankful not to have been mentioned in some of the more popular gossip blogs (like ChikaTime for instance – which is a guilty pleasure read of mine yet I feel bad because I do know some of the industry people mentioned). But I guess no one is saved from the controversies no matter how small. We all have our skeletons and no matter how well we hide them, the blogosphere – even in the form of offline banter, picks it up. To say that you don’t care to be involved may not actually be a choice because one day, it may just haunt us with something we did in the past.

The difference between a journalist and a blogger is that journalists have to adhere to certain guidelines that govern the freedom of speech. And whatever a journalist chooses to write about—be it popular or unpopular—we do not hide behind an anonymous name and are resigned to the fact that we have to take as much as we dish out.

Not always true. Some journalists hide under pen names to escape certain political or corporate … well … “restrictions”. As a corollary, some bloggers are journalists … likewise some journalists are bloggers. What differentiates a blogger from a journalist? I think it has more to do with the medium of conveyance, and not the message. I could be wrong. Nowadays its a very thin line. Especially when we talk of influence of the medium and the writer.

However, I simply detest people who place vicious comments and slanderous statements in blogs yet sign their messages as ‘anonymous.’

I agree. Bad no?

Perhaps it is the Filipino culture to foster backstabbing because they never mean what they say face to face. Just how many times have you dealt with co-workers who will smile in your face when you ask them to perform a task or engage in just plain conversation, when in fact they are quite uncomfortable with the situation and are forced to do what they absolutely detest with a smiling face.

There is truth to this but it is not an absolute. Some bloggers have dealt with controversial issues and made amends by sorting things out. Yes the behavior can be attributed to this mentality but we can’t stereotype the nation nor the culture. It’s like saying all Asians know some form of Kung Fu.

It’s just like all this hullabaloo about ousting GMA. You deposed ERAP in Edsa Dos. Now you’re unhappy with his replacement. Make up your minds.

I agree.

I suppose I started some kind of trend by eliciting nasty comments and reactions via blog because of my indiscretion.

No you didn’t. Welcome to the club. 🙂