“Kaput” is the word chosen by Italian Vogue editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani as she blogged about the disappointing direction journalism in her beloved Italy was taking.
“Our country,” she wrote, “known for having, in such a short stretch of land, the greatest works of art, churches, museums, palaces, is now full of trash”
She was referring to the tabloid journalism that is gripping the Italian media. She goes on to say that the trash journalism in that country serves only the egos of those who practice within it, trashing anyone who is anyone and only applauding “friend” designers and businessmen.
Sozzani’s sentiments about her country’s shameful state of journalism echo my own as I’ve previously expressed on this very blog, where I spoke of the “cronyism that grips South African fashion journalism”. We are writing junk, where only our friends can do right and whoa unto those designers who have no media friends; their work will forever be relegated to second best, or even irrelevance.
I continue to urge those of us in the media industry who call themselves journalists to question every scribble of their pen by asking the simple question; “what purpose am I serving by writing this piece?”
This copycat journalism of trying to replicate british or American tabloidization and sensationalism is hurting us badly. The trash that Sozzani refers to is just all too familiar for the South African audience. What we need is a critical fashion media that realizes that we too have a role to play in the growth of our fashion industry. Ask yourself if you have indeed descended to “trash”!
“Our country,” she wrote, “known for having, in such a short stretch of land, the greatest works of art, churches, museums, palaces, is now full of trash”
She was referring to the tabloid journalism that is gripping the Italian media. She goes on to say that the trash journalism in that country serves only the egos of those who practice within it, trashing anyone who is anyone and only applauding “friend” designers and businessmen.
Sozzani’s sentiments about her country’s shameful state of journalism echo my own as I’ve previously expressed on this very blog, where I spoke of the “cronyism that grips South African fashion journalism”. We are writing junk, where only our friends can do right and whoa unto those designers who have no media friends; their work will forever be relegated to second best, or even irrelevance.
I continue to urge those of us in the media industry who call themselves journalists to question every scribble of their pen by asking the simple question; “what purpose am I serving by writing this piece?”
This copycat journalism of trying to replicate british or American tabloidization and sensationalism is hurting us badly. The trash that Sozzani refers to is just all too familiar for the South African audience. What we need is a critical fashion media that realizes that we too have a role to play in the growth of our fashion industry. Ask yourself if you have indeed descended to “trash”!
