The End of Criticism?

After weeks and weeks, I'm trying to catch up again on interesting stories that catch my eye. From the Guardian issue of July 13, for example, is this story on how blogging may or may not mean the end of criticism as we have known it.

For the snickering twits who think that, as bloggers, they should be exempt from professional ethics and standards and practices, I'm sure this will be manna from heaven. Um, but you know what? It still doesn't exempt those snickering twits from acting like professional critics if they're choosing to function as them.

I especially enjoyed this graph:

Of course, some newspaper critics are living the digital life to the full. Both Mark Shenton, drama critic of the Sunday Express, and Ian Shuttleworth, of the Financial Times, either blog or weigh in on other blogs. Norman Lebrecht, arts columnist of the Evening Standard, has long written a blog for artsjournal.com and is an avid consumer of online opinion. 'What I see out there is quite a mixture. A lot of it is amateurish in a good sense. But I do miss incisiveness, people delivering real information and knowledge.' He also counsels his brethren to think twice before wading in to online discussions. 'One has to be very careful of making any comment. Bloggers are as sensitive as any diva. Criticise them and they will attack you.'

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