I'm TIME's Person of the Year!

Time Magazine's Person of the Year is You!



Yes, You. And me, and everyone who has published online.

I think it's a fantastic idea, although the idea of putting a mirror on the cover is strangely reminiscent of the Dude from the Great Lebowski film.



However, in Crikey, Christian Kerr, a media journalist, hits out at them.

He claims that TIME is running scared of 'new media', which crikey counts themselves as, and this is a way to get people to buy the magazine.

He says the idea of having a mirror on the cover was stolen from some 1970s band's record cover - and fair enough, it's not a new idea, but come on, can he be a little more 'new media' and use a popular culture reference most of us will know, like for instance, the Big Labowski?

Anyway, I sent them a letter, and it got published. Here it is:

Re. "Old media needs to take a look in the mirror" (yesterday, item 17).

OK, I know it was a Monday, but why is Christian 'need to change my first name to Wayne' Kerr so cranky about the Time article?

Sure, the "traditional" media is under threat, but they also do have a point, although technically they're 3-5 years too late.

As someone who has been involved with the Net since its fairly early days in the early 90s, I have noticed that the utopia of a free media and information promised in early scholarly articles hasn't come from wanker academics or journalists like Kerr, but from ordinary slobs like myself.

I was the one responsible for leaking the Ratbag sellout of Midway* to the major news sources via my blog. I was the one who got the Hilltop Hoods recognised by Melanie Safka (my review is on her website).

Sure, it may not be uncovering Howard's illicit liaison with Bob Hawke's wife or anything mindblowing like that, but it DID get international attention, something impossible ten years ago.

And that's Time magazine's point.

If Kerr is too up himself to accept this, maybe he should write his own blog in his own time and with his own money like the rest of us, instead of riding the coat-tails of an organisation that has to beg for subscriptions to a newsletter full of pompous asses and half truths!

* sellout as in buying us out then closing us down