20 August 2012

Greg Jericho to launch his book at Paperchain Manuka

| johnboy
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This just in:

Please join us for the launch of ‘The Rise of the Fifth Estate: Social Media and
Blogging in Australian Politics’ by Greg Jericho.

The book will be launched by Senator Scott Ludlam.

Thursday August 30
5.45 for 6.00pm

RSVP Wednesday August 29
Telephone 6295 6723 or
email info@paperchainbookstore.com.au

‘The Rise of the Fifth Estate’ is the first book to examine the emergence of
social media as a new force in the coverage of Australian politics.

Using original research, Greg Jericho reveals who makes up the Australian
political blogosphere, and tackles head-on some of its key developments — the
way that Australia’s journalists and federal politicians use social media and
digital news, the motivations of bloggers and tweeters, the treatment of female
participants, and the eruption of Twitter wars.

The mainstream media’s reaction to all this tends to be defensive and
dismissive. As Jericho found to his own cost when he was outed by The Australian
as the blogger Grog’s Gamut, hell hath no fury like a criticised newspaper. And
although journalists welcome Twitter as a work tool and platform, they have to
deal with vitriolic online comments, and face competition from bloggers who are
experts in their fields and who, for the most part, write for free.

Politicians, meanwhile, are finding it hard to engage genuinely with the new
media. They tend to pay lip service to the connectedness offered by modern
technology, while using it primarily for self-promotion.

The new social media are here to stay, and their political role and influence
are bound to increase. The real question they pose is whether the old structures
of the political world will absorb this new force or be changed by it.

Greg Jericho writes a weekly blog for ABC Online’s The Drum. From 2006 to 2011
he worked as a Commonwealth public servant, mostly in the film-policy division.
He has a PhD in English literature and an honours degree in economics. He also
writes, blogs, and tweets as his alter-ego, Grog’s Gamut.
==================================

We accept Mastercard, Visa,
and cheques in Australian dollars.
Postage is extra, at cost.
=========================
Paperchain Bookstore
34 Franklin Street
Manuka ACT 2603
Australia

ph 02 6295 6723
fax 02 6232 6845

email: books@paperchainbookstore.com.au

Web: http://www.paperchainbookstore.com.au

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