I DISMISSED A soft blogging piece¹ in The Sunday Business Post (SBP) yesterday as pure marketing hype for Edelman until I realised I was being sexist. The article deserves a response because similar items written by men have kicked up stink in the Irish blogosphere. The half-page SBP article was a rewarmed press release that insulted business readers. As a direct result of O'Mahony's failure to acknowledge the existence of Irish business bloggers, she damaged her byline and inflicted collateral damage on Edelman, the PR consultancy who graciously used her space to trumpet its "Guide to the Blogosphere" in a free placement unmarked as a commercial profile. This misleading tactic incited a rabid back channel among some Irish bloggers that will effectively correct the inaccuracies in O'Mahony's writing.
The Irish blogging community has reacted to similar exercises of lazy journalism in the mainstream press before and to not pipe up to a woman journo would be sexist. O'Mahony should take the hint and attend an Irish blogging seminar next week in the Dublin Hilton Hotel where her follow-up article could write itself before the first question and answer session. She might meet mid-career Irish professionals who have been blogging longer than Edelman and who have interviewed Steve Rubel, a recent Edelman hire, read Naked Conversations, and participated in several academic surveys of Irish blogs.
Irish blogging is a remarkably efficient self-correcting ecosystem. The cross-talk generated on the back of misguided Sunday Business Post coverage shows this ecosystem in operation. As David Dunne, from Edelman New York said in O'Mahony's article, "Blogging ... takes companies from a reactive stance to a proactive stance. They can talk to the market." Right, so. Let's see if either Edelman or O'Mahony join the conversation. You can bet they have heard these mutterings from well-informed Irish bloggers already.
¹Catherine O'Mahony -- "Firms woo the blog generation" in The Sunday Business Post, February 26, 2006.
Damien Mulley -- "Business Post Talks Business Blogging Not One Irish Blogger Mentioned"
Michele Neylon -- "Finding Irish business bloggers"
