Media, for better or for worse

No too long ago I came across a journalist's response to a chronicle made by a horse trainer/rider. The chronicle itself was a response to a previous article made by the above mentioned journalist.

I will not bore you with the details, but the fact the two of them had this argument on "prime time television time" made it so cringe. It also brings fuel to the fire to those who believe equestrian sport is not real sport.

So even myself love a good debate [did you ever notice the comment section below, don't be afraid to use it], but this felt like a total low point.

I could easily argue both sides of their case but it felt like the editor in chief did not think things through before letting this argument go on to their website. And I for one have a huge problem when equestrian press let "writers for hire" do their own dirty work.

It makes it so sticky, and not in a good way.

Like the editors do have an opinion but in the end of they day, they lack the balls or miss out of the back bone to actually publish their findings and or their own opinions in a chronicle.

Instead it seems much easier and way more convenient [risk free] to let others, independent writers, to deliver their message. Ever so often these "free lancers" won't even get paid. So as a financial business model it is also kind of brilliant.

Last but not least, doing this, they now made it possible to just place a disclaimer in the bottom of the article, in which they point the fact that the opinions in the article belong to the author and author only.

From time to time I also use a disclaimer as seen below but in a complete other context.

The fact a magazine published their own open letter the other day make me hope maybe we've come to a turning point.

Moving forward

Just imagine an equestrian outlet or any other magazine removing themselves from social media and run their own thing instead of keep feeding the monster!

Those were words I wrote sometime in October last year. It was for a chronicle here on Hoofbeat Online. The article used to be a locked "members only" article but I opened it up so you can all read it as whole via the link below.

Media outlets begging for mercy..

A better plan would have been to take responsibility for the fact media are an have been a big part of the problem in how people speak and adress each other online.

Hoofbeat OnlineHoofbeat Online

So why am I bringing some old article back to life one might wonder.

It all comes down to me reading an article from a national media outlet of mine on Friday last week.

In the article, slash comment, slash infomercial they put together, they brought up the idea of them actually quitting Facebook!

Hooray!

The fact that media - all media - are highly responsible in helping with the creation of the toxic world of internet we live in today, after themselves let their comment sections run free on Facebook for years was not brought up in their chronicle.

But at least the editors behind this particular magazine are thinking about what to do, and seriously questioning if Facebook commenting sections really is for them in the year of 2025.

Maybe it would even be possible to start with native comments again!

It's a small step forward, but it is forward thinking! I hope more magazines, and editors will start considering doing this, and if and when someone actually jumps the boat all others will follow.

If you know of any name worthy equine magazine who already ditched Facebook in favour of their own site, please let me know in the comment section below!

Myself dare to say that if it wasn't for social media that crazy SWB-gate up in Sweden, Scandinavia would never have surfaced in the first place.

Cause that kind of behaviour where people - in this case SWB - find it appropriate to take it up on themselves to tell others what they can and cannot say really is something born out of social media when it suddenly got so easy to get access to just about anybody alive out there.

Also born and bred via socials are influencers. What ever they may be. Cause after following the results of one of those during the weekend I find myself wonder if we really need to be influenced by bad riding and lack of horsemanship.

I will return to this topic another time but for now I will just quote my friend and say: just imagine if some people worked harder in being athletes instead of influencers.

Do you have any thoughts on this? Don't forget to forward it to a friend and share your thoughts in the comment section. Promise not to bite 🤗