It took us a while to put our finger on what this majistral bloke was about. In 2005 we were convinced he was the mother (or father) of all PN apologists. It was not that though. It was an assiduous attention to detail. Thermidor was a formidable political observer with whom to cross swords. Then suddenly, for no apparent reason the blog that had become a reference point on all things political just stopped. Fausto soldiered on as chief proof reader, fact-correcter and contradictor on J’accuse with the occasional (very welcome) guest post in the Zolabytes. Here’s another one then, telling you how the blogosphere died:
While blogging in the US really took off in the aftermath of 9/11 as “citizen journalists” put online whatever content they felt mainstream media was leaving out, in quite a few other countries the watershed year was 2005. Particularly in the Middle East (Egypt and Syria immediately come to mind), PCs and modems became as powerful weapons as guns and grenades.
Malta’s big year of the blog was also 2005. At no other time since did the Maltese blogosphere flourish as much in quality and quantity. But it was not just that. There was a good vibe from trying out a new medium whose potential was as yet undiminished with competition from the likes of Facebook and Twitter. The motivations to blog were very strong: in my case (as possibly with many others), the feeling that on the Maltese mainstream media contributors either (a) had nothing very interesting to say, (b) could only express themselves very poorly or (c) all of the above. Usually it was (c) so out we set to set the world aright. And then when an Independent intern, Aurelie Herbemont, wrote an article on the Maltese blogging scene, it really felt that the blogging revolution was on the way and, with some more effort, it might even be televised.
J’accuse was born into this happy world. Having been born under the right star sign, in a thriving community were members were genuinely interested in reading and responding to what other members were saying, the blog’s editor frequent positings quicky placed the blog in pole position. While, of course, readers came from far beyond the confines of the small blogging community, most reactions and responses were from other bloggers. That was somewhat dispiriting at the time (at least to me). Had I the gift of foresight with the ability to see the Times commentator in the future, I would have been happy that somehow what we wrote attracted like-minded people rather than contributions which, like most graffiti attest nothing except the writer’s (unwelcome) presence.
Sadly, the blogosphere decline set in quite quickly. An annus horribilis was 2008, an election year which attracted many “occasional bloggers” as well as “occasional readers” who were looking for the latest online rumour through google. Some gave up. In the case of J’accuse, its editor responded to an odyssean song becoming a contributor, first on the Sunday Times then the Independent on Sunday. The blog content suffered, becoming almost an appendage, at most a “peek preview”, to the weekly column. The writing which had looked so natural and authentic with the varying lengths, intensities and time of blogging was now subject to the fixed lengths, fixed styles and fixed publication date only the dead tree media could impose. Thankfully, the editor is now again free and some of the old J’accuse shine is back.
Not all, of course. Not the spirit of ’05 expressed in that old wordpress template. But at least J’accuse is still around to remind us of better times.
