Jour-NO-list
Yes, I know, bad blogger. It’s been five months since my last confession - six if you discount my strange and obsessive divergence into the world of Eurovision in May. It’s been a busy few months, what with the economy collapsing, the postmen going on strike (again) and the end of the world being on the way (according to the Mayans, who apparently knew, like, everything except how to build roads or cars or make ice cream or anything good like that).
Anyway, I’ve been too busy getting jaded. I went on a ridiculous press trip recently (the details of which I’ll spare for another day) where I met a few hacks of a certain age - you know the ones, they all carry teeny tiny notepads with itsy bitsy pencils that they stick behind their ears at press conferences. When you tell them you’re an online journalist they snort and ask you if you’re on MySpace (umm, even my mum has quit MySpace now, get with it gramps!) Seeing their twisted grins when PRs got flustered and hearing their endless whinges about rubbish service on European flights (which they never pay for anyway as they blag it for free), made me worry. Am I turning into them? Do I want to turn into them? Is it too late?
As a journalist, it’s easy to spend your life saying no. We get thousands of misplaced calls from confused PRs every day. “Do you want to write about my dull as dishwater product?” No (but can I have one anyway?). “Do you want to come to my super boring event and write a super boring review while drinking tepid tea?” No (not unless there’s champagne afterwards). “Would you like to interview my boss/friend/cat about a topic completely unrelated to what you do?” No (but what sort of cat do you have?).
It’s not that you want to be a grumpy old curmudgeon, it’s just that so much crap gets thrown at you every day, something has to give. Pity the poor PRs paid with a currency called ‘yes’ in a world full of ‘no’. Actually, don’t feel too sorry for them, they get paid way more than we do - and I bet they don’t have to fly economy class either!
This week Gina has been mostly…looking forward to seeing all-time dancehall legends Chaka Demus & Pliers and Shabba Ranks in concert and wondering if white girls can jump.