No, honestly, I promise, this really will be the last time I use that silly alliterative 'joke' on Oliver Kamm's name, and you can believe it because at the end of the month his blog is going to fall under Mr. Murdoch's campaign to make web-users pay for any content from his titles. I don't blame Mr. Murdoch for trying but as a consumer, obviously, I look for bargains and you cannot get a better bargain than 'free'! It will be fascinating to see if his gamble pays off because the other MSM tycoons will be watching carefully. I suppose it will depend on the trade-off between falling advertising revenue from a smaller readership, and direct payments from readers.
However, one thing is for sure, I shall miss Oliver's blog very much indeed. I disagree with him on many matters but I always respected highly the scholarship which he could deploy in support of whatever argument he was putting forward. Perhaps most of all I will miss his ability to execute (I use the word advisedly) a coldly detached evisceration of the more foolish or malignant of his opponents. I suspect that tonight they will be throwing a party at the despicable Media Lens site.
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