We all need a voice
My twitter day was made on Monday by the arrival of one @clarebalding1, who landed in the twitterverse with the twit’s equivalent of the big bang – a first tweet that exploded with retweets and left fellow celeb AA Gill in no doubt that he was in a black hole. TV Presenter and horse racing expert Clare’s first tweet as a twit was to label Gill a tw*at.
Clare Balding's first tweet makes an entrance
Immediately hailed by the likes of @caitlinmoran of The Times and @editorialgirl as the “Best first tweet EVAH”, it was a reflection of Clare’s decision to enter twitterland in order to voice her anger at AA Gill’s rather puerile (no change there then) review of her new series, Britain By Bike, on BBC4. Using classic teenage adolescent stereotypical offence, “Dyke on a Bike” was the obvious label and Gill didn’t stop there with the patronising, demeaning dribble, as you can see from the much re-published excerpt below:
A.A. Gill in the Sunday Times on Clare Balding: “I warm to Clare as a presenter. Away from sport she has a comfortable, no-nonsense enthusiasm; when every other girl on television is winsome and coquettish, it’s a relief to be talked to by someone who isn’t flirting down the lens. Though I’m not sure this is much of a format: I’d like to see her as a sturdier Judith Chalmers, possibly in lederhosen. I wonder if the production team noticed that, even through three layers of Viyella and Gore-Tex, Clare has heroically assertive nipples.”
So Clare took to the twitterverse and offered a series of scathing, witty and pointed tweets throughout the day that went some way to balancing the books – and garnered a huge amount of support in the process.
Balding's tweet revenge
Apart from being entertained by Clare’s twitterstream that day, it struck me how powerful Social Media (and Twitter particularly in this regard) can be for giving us a (sometimes instant) voice – and how we all need that voice from time to time. And it’s amazing how quickly that voice is becoming louder and more powerful. Of course we don’t all have the pulling power of a Clare Balding (who amassed herself over 5,000 followers in quick order, many of whom were able to amplify her complaint to hundreds of thousands of their own followers), but we do have networks who are more than happy to support us in creating a few waves when we need to. I’m sure the chance to vent combined with the overwhelming support Clare Balding received would have made her feel a whole lot better about the situation at the very least – and that’s a benefit we can all enjoy from this process.
anger turns to joy
What I do hope is that Clare and other personalities with huge followings on Twitter and other social media channels are sometimes prepared to ‘pay it forward’ and offer a few other bereft twitter souls or good causes some additional voice. I for one will continue to follow Clare Balding because as it turns out, she is far wittier and amusing than Gill, but also because I’m interested in her tips.
UPDATE 31/7/10: Clare Balding has subsequently written to and received a reply from the Editor of The Sunday Times, whose response to her complaint roughly says that if Jeremy Clarkson has to put up with abuse about his clothing and attitude, Clare should put up with abuse about her sexuality!! For fuller review of his letter and her reply, see here: http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2010/07/homophobia_appa
Update 16/9/10 Clare Balding has had her complaint to the press commission upheld, The Press Association press release can be found here http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5ixzWM9dU-1qA6uLj9YBSP8Qsp7Aw
But the commission ruled the use of the word was a “pejorative synonym relating to the complainant’s sexuality”, adding that Gill was using it “to refer to the complainant’s sexuality in a demeaning and gratuitous way” and that it was a breach of the Editors’ Code of Practice.
PCC director Stephen Abell said: “Freedom of expression is a key part of an open society and something which the commission has defended robustly in the past.
“While the commentator is clearly entitled to his opinion about both the programme and the complainant, there are restraints placed upon him by the terms of the Editors’ Code.
“Clause 12 is very clear that newspapers must avoid prejudicial, pejorative or irrelevant reference to an individual’s sexual orientation and the reference to Miss Balding plainly breached its terms.”
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13 Responses to We all need a voice
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AA Gill and Jeremy Clarkson (good friends) jerk off on being obnoxious and this time Gill really has excelled himself. Sadly the publicity generated won't do him any harm, so I hope Clare Balding has the good sense to carve him in stone as a silly tw*t and then forget about him. The one thing these assholes really hate is to be ignored.
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
Heroically assertive nipples… honestly is writing for 12 year old boys who have yet have their first sexual experience? Sounds like he is on his last legs as a witty writer to me, good on Clare Balding for tackling him.
sadly it's a no win; they love to wind it up because it generates traffic – and traffic comes at any cost as far as these dirt bags are concerned. But ignoring it means it doesn't get addressed. One fab point made by @eaitken on twitter just now though, because Sunday Times now has a paywall, they aren't getting the benefit of the traffic it's generating because peeps won't pay! Delicious….
Having never been overly fond of Clare Balding before, I have now decided I love her! GoClare!
So his controversy, if it can be called that, has had no benefit. How sublime…
I just love how twitter helps people in the public eye be themselves and draw attention to things that matter to them. The fakers don't last long.
BTW Clare has just tweeted the Guardian story about her PCC complaint:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/30/cla…
Show your support on twitter with the #goclare hashtag…
Twitter: Subutcher
You almost lost me in the first para of this one, Elaine: a sad reflection on me and my puny understanding of this whole area, not your post!
I'm really not sure about the etiquette of arriving on a new scene and slagging another party goer off as soon as you open your mouth.
Having said that, I guess she IS referring to a Sunday Times journo who seems to me to have just been a bit of a pain-in-the-a*s schoolboy “Aren't I clever?” way that would surely have backfired well enough left to its own devices?
Is the paper or its journos taken seriously any more? Let's not forget that the ST along with its old stable mate The Times, years ago joined the News of the World and Sun as a part of Murdoch's empire.
Finally: Who actually comes out of this looking good? I'm confused…
Twitter: Linda_Mattacks
Being someone that finds the UK's news inward and lacking of anything that is not all doom and gloom. (Apparently we are about to enter a second dip recession. Really? No, only if enough banal reporters and media scrummers talk about it, we will.)
It intrigues me that front page news on a Monday is forgotten by Friday, regardless of how many lives were effected on Monday and probably will be for many many months to come. So at first reading this blog, I thought…and?
But the great point here is that as Sarah so rightly points out, we have a voice. Okay so maybe our voices are not as loud as others, but every person on this planet has a voice. That can be heard by millions. And as I discovered yesterday that is now 1 billion people on line around the world. That’s a lot of people to hear you.
But what’s the point?
Well I think the point is that yes we can share our wisdom and we can share our stories, but if you have a large voice it is an opportunity to raise subjects that the media refuse to address. How many of you know that there is a national campaign going on right now, supported by loads of celebs to tackle mental health stigma? Seen it in the paper? On the telly? No.
However there are plenty of people raising the issue online and raising awareness. And twitter enables everyone to have a voice like this.
I may sound a tad Polly Anna here (but hey I don’t care) the fact is we can make a difference. Opinions can be changed, ideas can be formed and campaigns can be launched by anyone…anyone.
Now that feels quite a radical way that we can all be involved in getting things just that bit better and all in 140 characters!
In case you are interested in getting rid of mental health illness stigma – show your support and join the pledge. Probably take a minute of your life to do your bit.
http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/
This is my pledge;
I pledge to share with everyone my experiences of mental health illness to help others understands that it is an illness just like any other that affects all sorts of people and people deserve your understanding and kindess not your “Oy Nutty!” comments.
I agree, it's an amazing platform isn't it? The ability to emplify an issue way beyond the normal restrictive realm of traditional media is so powerful. Thanks for the link to the Guardian article.
Great points raised here Mandie – and particularly about issues being shortlived and sometimes never reaching us at all via traditional media. Thanks for the link – I have made a pledge and hope others do too.
Ouch at the last comment- Jeremy Clarkson is badly dressed and because he is man he was paid to ponce around France and such like for dress sense tips. *SIGH*
Thank you for this, Mandie. I too have been over and made my pledge. I am shocked I had not even heard of this “high-profile” campaign – obviously not sexy enough for the British media.