Surf Journalism: Give The People What They Want!
"What interests the public isn't always in the public's interest"
Now there's a saying sure to split journalists into two camps – discerning readers too. It's a line I abided by back when I considered myself the arbiter of journalistic integrity. Serious surfing journalism? Yes, that was me. Earnest and abiding? Yep, that was me too. But note the past tense, readers. I refer to the old me, the 2011 me. It's a new year and I'm turning over a new leaf – this year I'm gonna give you what you want.
There'll be no more withholding information because of antiquated notions such as 'principle' or 'privacy'. The people have a right to know and I shall be the courageous messenger, swayed by neither fear nor favour. No matter how much it hurts, or how much controversy it causes, I will deliver. If it's to do with surfing and you're interested, you will read about it here.
But how is it I know what you want?
The answer to that is found on one of the internet's most visited pages – the Google search page. There, listed below the results, is a nifty little tool called Related Searches. Just type in a topic to search and Google, in its infinite crowd-sourced wisdom, replies with the most popular searches as sought by you - the public – relating to that subject.
It's democratic. It's economic. It's pure marketing genius.
Last year I wrote a few articles on Kelly Slater regarding his wavepool, his surfing performances, and also his ongoing fascination with board design. This year expect more human interest stories pertaining to Old Baldy. The people have spoken and Google has collated your requests - surfing is out, stories about his 'girlfriend' and 'daughter' are in. Expect one on each this year.
Likewise Taj, who despite his progressive freesurfing still draws interest for his off piste proclivities. 'Lara Bingle' and 'girlfriend' are the two most popular searches for the aging pantsman, and they'll be tidy assignments for this keen journo.
A story on Dane Reynolds? Anything mentioning his 'girlfriend Courtney' is guaranteed to rate well. Better than anything to do with his surfing at least.
This will take us up to autumn and with the surf season close at hand it'd be nice to do a few stories on core surfers – Tom Carroll for instance. And the most popular search for the hard-charging power surfer? 'Tom Carroll soft surfboards'.
What about Gerry Lopez, the high priest of surfer cool? The most common enquiry for the one-time Mr Pipeline is 'Gerry Lopez SUP'.
About now some may be wondering about the efficacy of Related Searches, but I can vouch for the accuracy. Searches on Bobby Martinez turned up 'fight', Oscar Wright 'art', and Alana Blanchard 'hot'. For the most part the stereotypes fit the mold, although I admit being perplexed by your interest in Koby Abberton. 'Quotes' is the most common search on the notorious Bra Boy. Might be a short story, that one.
A story on Andy Irons is mandatory, but what's left to say? Never mind what has or hasn't been said, it's clear what you want to hear: 'drugs', 'drug problem', and 'rehab' are the three most common searches on the three-time world champ. And what about his brother Bruce? One word, 'drugs'.
John John Florence is surfing's latest posterboy after bursting onto the World Tour and taking out the World Cup of Surfing in excellent waves at Sunset Beach. Therefore it would only make sense to write a story on Florence. And the most popular search relating to our newest star? 'John John Florence Mom'. Thanks for the hot tip, people.
So that's it. I've stumbled upon the path of least resistance in surf journalism, a path that will pave the way to guaranteed viewer traffic. The topics you most want to read about as voted for by you, the inquisitive reader.
Comments
Just confirms what I've always thought. People as individuals can be reasonably intelligent, but as a group we're fucking stupid.
Do what you want Stu, I'm sure you're innate self respect will haunt you until you have no choice but come back from (or is it to) the dark side. Or you could just go and get a job with News Ltd.
Yes, I know, he was being ironic.
Stu - you might want to add a disclaimer in future if you're really going to pander to the lowest common denominator...
I am the lowest common denominator. Gimme gossip. Stu can be Perez Hilton!
You missed a beauty. The most popular search for Laird Hamilton is 'diet', then 'workout', then 'book'.
Ignoring the unorganized consumers, as well as, the human race in general, has been, and will be, the demise of many companies, as well as journalists, in perpetuity...
"Treat all economic questions from the viewpoint of the consumer, for the interests of the consumer are the interests of the human race."
-Frederick Bastiat
@surfstarved,
Don't shoot the messenger, or his newly acquired neo-liberal viewpoint. How is it that 'giving the people what they want' can be so bad?
As for people being stupid, I believe Fritz Nietzsche said it best: 'Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and websites, it is the rule.'
I hope you like my new direction...
@Sandspit,
While researching the article I stumbled upon a rule pertaining to surfers. If a surfer is a celebrity or a personality then the most popular search was for their girlfriend. If a surfer was a pure competitive animal the most common searches were for 'fitness' and in some instances 'twitter'.
There's something for the marketing departments in that rule...
Now we're talking! Just did a search for CJ Hobgood and the first result is 'gas chambers'. Brother Damo came in with an interesting one too, 'biography'.
Intelligent people discuss ideas. Educated people talk of current events. Common people natter about other people... Who gives a toss about the who's fucking who of professional surfing? Feed us something nutritious Stu....
I don't mind whats written , I'll read it and make up my own mind.
Don't just give us facts though Stu, give us gossip, give us drama, give us dirt. It all makes for interesting reading.
The comments that spread from there livens up what may be a dull day. I even get a laugh out of Rotty when he gets the ball and starts running.
In all honesty I find it a tad hard to follow some of the threads on Swellnet sometimes, so I guess that makes me a 'layman' or one of the 'people'... as opposed to being an intelligent or educated person buddwha mentioned... but I think that qualifies me to speak on behalf of these people... maybe???
Just wanted to say that what we want isn't necessarily what we need... I mean if I'd have gone after everything I wanted... well I probably wouldn't be alive today...
Not trying to make you the dude that decides what’s good for us Stu... but at least in the past it appears that you've at least taken that into account, which I appreciate...
So hey... for what it's worth mate...
Ben
some parallels with the music writing and publishing business, good article here:
http://thequietus.com/articles/07574-2011-review
The more freedoms we have the more inane the banter. It's an indisputable law of sociology. Doesn't mean we have to engage in inanities though Stu, this is a niche media market after all.
I'll trust your cynicism is well-placed on this one.
I can't remember the source, but I read somewhere that surf journalism consists of people who can't write writing for people who can't read.
Ah filling the gap in surfing media thats been left since Stabmag.com gave up and turned to just reposting blog vid's, onya Stu.
Paul said it.
This just goes to prove my point that google is the work of the devil and eventually will replace the need for human beings to think at all. At least I think thats right just hang on while I google my opinion
Well what the fuck are you so learned people doing even looking at a surfing site? Are you lowering your intelligence by being here?
If so, maybe you need to go and sit in the library for a while and read some books that have been written by some real smart people, hey, 'cause us dumb cuntz don't need youse around anyhow!
*ding* ............ and the award goes to seal!
@Paul,
Q: How do blind people learn to read?
A: By connecting the dots.
And that is why no Surf Journalist will ever learn to read Braille.
lay off huge mr nettle , who here could do a better job? hands up kiddies come on, just as one thought NO-ONE! mr rottencramps is warming up his fingers one assumes, to set one straight about now
but having said that , let me say this, one is sure that if somebody out there can submit a story that fits with what said mr nettle is trying to achieve on this site than one is sure that he would , being the kind and generous man that he is, print it
Seems that surf journalism has been overdosing on angst perhaps since the death of Andy Irons. Or even earlier maybe. New media growing pains. In the end does anything really matter? I look at surf photos for a bit of escape and enjoyment, I want to read surf writing and have the same feeling. Think most adult surfers are savvy enough to know what the deal is in the surf industry, but it doesn't take the enjoyment away from wave riding.
Stu, you are joking around, right?
HahaHA, I get it! very funny, you do have a twisted sense of humour, so I can see this is just gonna be one of them "AAAAAAHHH, GOTCHAS!!!!"
This sort of fodder could be your 'lite' series & Tajs exgirlfriends? Shiiisssh? Pictorial only story, no shots of Taj not surfing required.
-Surfers are a bunch of passionate people. Most surfers have put significant parts of their lives (like having a life) on hold to be a surfer. If google did a stat purely for surfers searches, your related searches would look way different than the ones mainly based on 14 y/os from Oklahoma or Birmingham or Amsterdam. I'm all for a current look at Gerry Ls evolution to the face of an SUP brand but more on Bobbys outburst, Danes current fling, whatever...
IYou're leaving Nat Geo and joining Who magazine. Investigative intelligence vs dazzling, shiny and new. Tell me you're just kidding..
Onya BigWayne!
One does get a kick out seeing ones name in the comments box, and as one says one would print any story that can be sufficiently confirmed. Fuck, it's not easy to talk about oneself in the third person.
This is a purely business decision Pattie....no joke! The people have spoken - all the way from sunny Oklahoma! - and I've listened. If the ASP can go after a new audience then I can too.
did someone say Oklahoma ???
Stu,
Does that really mean you will do stories that have no value or "contra" revenue of benefit to swellnet???
What is with spreading the issues out month by month....sounds like marketing budget 101 to me....trickle the gossip out to coincide with some form of payback contra revenue stream !!!
Like no promo boards you could give away from Mark Kelly for his story (that was so obvious is was a joke), or plugs or product/add placement for BBg, QS, O'niell etc etc when you cover bits on Dane, Tom, Taj, John John et al ??? Greg giving you first dibs on his wavepool ...Ya shares in BBG suffering still (as are the ones held be at least one other major surf publicist) ???
Hope so but just can not see how you would possibly survive if you really tell the truth and 'let it all hang out'...Pattiecannon has thrown the challenge and it's now up to you to show us your no puppet bro.
Eh? We gave away boards for Mark Kelly? When...? As for the story on him, it may be hard for you to believe but that was prompted by a reader comment in my original BASE article. Need proof?
"s-r
Fri 21st Oct '11
This is directly at Stu at SwellNet!
You started the fire on this Stu and have been obviously quiet as it has flamed...I have a request...
Follow it through and get some amazing interviews from some on the inside...
Start with Maurice Cole....my understanding is he was the first in and first out at Base and he has probably 40 years experience....I'm not sure we'll get any sort of answer that we'll understand...but I'd be intruiged...
Follow up with TF/Nev/ your GSI connection....give us some real insite! (get Greg Webber as well please)
Throw some petrol on this fire!"
So I followed SR's request and interviewed Mark Kelly, Greg Webber and Maurice Cole. Feel free to check dates if you wish.
As for shares in Billabong: I don't own any shares, fullstop, and nor does anyone else at Swellnet.
You're gonna have to do better than that.
Stu, Must be seeing things as I swear Swell net had some promo on GSI giveaway at same time MKstory ran.
Stu,
Mmmmmm recognise this???
SWELLNET DISPATCH
Win the ultimate quiver with GSI
IN: SWELLNET DISPATCH BY FRI 23RD SEP '11
tags: gsi , ultimate quiver
click to enlarge
Global Surf Industries is kicking off the summer season with a killer competition.
They are giving Facebook fans the chance to win five surfboards for you and five surfboards for a friend from the portfolio of brands GSI have to offer.
The 'Ultimate Quiver' competition is live on Facebook and will run for the next forty days. Every ten days GSI will give away ten boards, which will consist of the two quivers the entrants have selected themselves.
For further information on how to enter please become a fan of GSI on Facebook and follow the prompts.
Good luck!
So you have put the acid on me on this and failed so now it is time to address the rest of my original post without the smell of 'red herring' deflecting the real questions asked.
Hell if you can't answer these simple ones...hate to see what happens when your real testy ones come from the 'new hard hitting tell all' stories are trotted out
GSI had a board giveaway promo in November that was advertised worldwide. We ran the info, as did 1000 other sites. Yet you think that we tied that in with the BASE article?
What next, Swellnet planned the BASE collapse to boost GSI sales? Yeah, you're onto us...
Is there a bad batch of bush weed getting around? The paranoia is rife.
It did tie in, fact.
So isf conclusion wrong then my mistake.
But it was an example of the issues I raised and questions still unaswered as to how the approach will be to all these new gut busting tell all stories and journalistic independence you are spruiking above...just want to know what commercial platform (if any) are really going to be based upon.
Nobody is suggesting swellnet shouldn't make a quid, but the issue is surely a disclose on any such story as to editorial independence or otherwise.
Rotty has opened the door on this issue and I can not help but think this approach you say you are going to take is not somehow a response by swellnet to accept that he has raised a good point
Re-read the article LJ......
now go look up satire on Google.
Your welcome.
People are losing thier minds....
Thats surprising, I would have thought next to Kelly it would be "aliens" and someone like Ozzy Wright would be "werewolves" ... does it work the other way round? this sound like a new game show - family feud style - let me be Tony Barber with those crazy entrances he used ta do! I googled 'google' and crashed the whole system into itself - yeeeaahh!
freeride76...Ok swallowed that one but piss poor attempt by Stu.
Still raises the question tho...see I don't get it that Stu writes pieces then gets involved personally in the debate...?
Last time I looked, comments and debate about a story or interview are usually left to readers with responses by the person having their say. That way any BS touted by the story can be questioned and Swellnet maintains independence and some integrity.
Just all goes to show what has been sid before...how can there be any trust in what the companies, ASP and most industry media put out...it seems a continuos circle of self serving rubbish to pocket as much as possible without any accountability.
That IMHO is what Rotty is bangin on about...I think
Ha ha...'piss poor', I'll let that one roll. So LJ, where did you see blogs where the author didn't comment? One of the central tenets of Media 2.0, as trumpeted by our mate Brewser and also many others, is that the author DOES comment on their articles.
The days of sermons delivered from the mount are long gone. Blogs serve as a rolling conversation that doesn't end at the last fullstop, the author rubs shoulders with the grunts as the topic evolves.
Stu & Swellnet,
You're beginning to sound desperate. My advice to you is take the money and run. When you're being accused of dishonesty you may as well be gaining something from it. Put your orders in with Billabong/Hurley/Quiksilver, take the contra and write the reviews. It will make the criticism much easier to take, trust me.
I'm only partly joking.
One of the more unintelligent articles i've read... Sure hordes of surfer wannabe's might be interested in reading about that sort of thing, but there probably the sort who enjoy reading about Beckham and his life. Whats so wrong with a surf site that has articles on surfing, rather than intrusive articles about surfers and there private lives (boring)... Try and keep it real, give us something to actually think about that is surf related... I know that's what i am after.
well said heals...get fair dinkum Stu..after all it is Australia day. Stop pretending to be Mr Neutral...Mr Independent Journalist...you just ain't mate
Wow, seems like a lot of people are missing the point of this article and it's tongue in cheek approach.
As if Stu would really base articles this year around surfers partners/drug addictions and what google spits out.
James, there are endless articles on this site appealing to what you are asking for above.
Tough crowd hey Stu!
LJKarma
There's no beating rank stupidity is there? Yet another message has gone sailing way over your head.
have a nice day heals...enjoy the view looking out of Stu arse...but maybe too far up there to see anything
i wanna read something interesting, stu, i dig this was a piss take article but can you make the next one substantial and interesting [like many of your articles are]. the forums are becoming tedious and the subject matter laborious. one is contemplating a sojourn to the news stand. cheers n peace all.
@everyone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal
@stu
grunts?? grunts!$!? Nettle, you've hurt me for the last time.....
At ease, Private Whaaaaat. We're all one in the defence forces. And Niggly, pisstakes be damned, I reckon I might post something interesting next time. You never know, might even have something to do with surfing...
Just a few thoughts;
Fritz Nietzsche was a carnt, please don't quote that intellectual pygmy, even when he was accidentally right.
Boy there are a lot of thick people around. On the other hand, swellnet seems to have a strong yankee readership, so that might explain the complete and utter inability to detect satire and/or irony. The written word Stu, it doesn't convey tone, and for the tone deaf it doesn't smack them between the eyes. Perhaps a disclaimer at the start along the lines of "Stu Nettle, me, the author, is Australian, and is consequently prone to use sarcasm, satire, irony, taking the piss and shit stirring within his writing. Nothing is to be taken literally unless it really should be taken literally, and everything I have ever written is a lie, including this."
And finally, the lie that is google. 90% of the traffic around Andy Irons and drugs actually emanated from Blas Rott's computer, so although Google may correctly state that there are 10 million references to Andy Irons and drugs, 9 million of them were from one deranged imbecile.
my apologise stu, i yelled at a parking officer on the same day. More that the article points out the dull grey overtones of the brilliance of man, that sap the disheartened down.
Time to jump in!
IMO... a large chunk of surf journalism thrives off negativity...especially anything that can discredit the sporting element of the lifestyle....and it's probably what the readers want....I don't get it but that's how it appears to me. Like a lot of the crew on this forum --- one particuarly who appears to idolize ASP 3 time world champ Andy Irons --- they hate ASP and all it is, but they follow it with a passion and are up to date with every piece of ASP news --- as for some of the journalists who report on it, they sit in waiting for any controversy and then jump all over it...World Title miscalculation ruins the brand? -- seriously? Was the AFL's brand ruined when an obvious human error mistake in the Grand Final awarded a goal to the losing team -- I never saw any follow-up journalism hinting that the AFL was in ruins and that was probably a far bigger error than ASP's...I think the latest Waves magazine...on the cover...headline shock...ASP without CEO...and then something on the lines of ASP about to be ruined??
Why the obsession with ASP and obsession to pounce on it? It's what the audience wants?
Hey Robbo,
I wouldn't say it's just a 'large chunk of surf that journalism thrives off negativity' it's a large chunk of journalism, full stop. And, just like you say, it is what the people want. I can vouch for the fact that whenever a contentious story goes up, even an industry penned press release, it gets way more hits than a feelgood story. That's reality and it happens in all industries.
But just like the opening quote to this article states ("What interests the public isn't always in the public's interest") we don't have to feed that beast. On Swellnet, the decision of what to run and how to present it solely rests with me, the editor. As such, I'm aware of the fine line between 'giving the people what they want' and gratuitous reporting. Maybe at time I've crossed the line - when you run as many stories as we do that's likely - but hopefully it hasn't happened too many times.
As for the ASP-bashing: I've read about five interviews of Top 34 surfers since the title miscalculation happened and each of them said it was a bad look. Those interviewed include apparent nice guys like Michel Bourez and Ace Buchan, proving that journos aren't the bad guys and also that we're not alone in our dismay.
That said, the ASP has been under intense scrutiny in the last 12 months, but you know, I think that's a good thing. Surfing NEEDS transparency. There has been too many vested interests for too long. As long as the reporting isn't agenda driven and retains balance then I truly believe that something good can come from reporting on the flaws.
Clearly people like watching competitive surfing, it's not going away, so putting surfing under the microscope can challenge the ASP to refine, improve or alter the product somehow. We can tell them when they fall short and also tell them when they do well.
You alluded to Ol' Brewser Rottmouth in your post. Like it or not he and others like him are fixtures of the new media landscape - they ain't going away. Where they fit into the food chain completely depends on your perception of them.
journalism 101 - if it bleeds, it leads.
Surf journalism should be held in the same regard, and have the same level of accountability, as any other journalism. Surfing is a fun thing to do and it's a pleasant thing to read about, but it's also a billion dollar a year industry practiced by a worldwide group of approx 20 million people. Such numbers wield influence over environment, local politics, business and society. It's no longer a fringe activity and nor should the coverage of it be marginal.
@S-R
Here's a good example of surf journalism with a positive end goal in mind: http://www.swellnet.com.au/news/2751-the-growth-of-surfing-in-china-at-w...