Harry's Place Arts

Dear Reader,

I will get to the “but” presently. Indulge me for a few paragraphs…

The growing popularity of blogging and so-called “citizen journalism” was once seen as a challenge to the traditional media. As news sources, blogs could sometimes dramatically scoop print and broadcast media, but I don’t think any serious media commentator honestly ever thought that this was a real threat to the professional news-gatherers. No, where newspapers, radio and television felt most threatened was in their role as opinion makers. Here bloggers came into their own as the forums best able to disseminate, dissect and discuss the news.

Soon the traditional media began to transform itself and to borrow the best aspects of blogging. Most now use their websites not only to publish their stories online, but to encourage users to “leave a comment” about the story. Some went further and launched blogs of their own, hiring professional writers and commentators to offer up daily opinion pieces for discussion. Even “citizen journalism” is now encouraged by the mainstream media. The ubiquity of camera-phones means that most news agencies ask members of the public to respond to any breaking story: “Were you there? Do you have photos? Video? What did you see?”

BUT… while newspapers may borrow the best ideas from blogs, it occurred to us at Harry’s Place that we might return the compliment.

That’s why we’re launching our ‘magazine’ section – Harry’s Place: Arts.

It will cover art, music, design, literature, photography, film, radio, television, and anything else that vaguely fits the bill.

Like the flagship Harry’s Place, there is no party line. Part of the fun is when the contributors don’t agree. We hope to retain the HP ethos of presenting considered but opinionated ideas in a colourful, engaging and readable way.

We have some distinct advantages. Unlike the mainstream media, we’re not time-sensitive, so if a writer discovers an album or a book from ten years ago and it excites them, they’ll review it! Chances are there are hundreds of other people who haven’t discovered it yet, or already love it and want to enthuse about it.

So, we offer you, the Harry’s Place reader, even more to read… and even more to argue about. We hope you’ll enjoy the new annex and the raft of new contributors drafted in to write for it.

And we hope it sets a new trend in blogging. We quite expect some of our blogging friends and rivals will follow suit.