Independence is half naked

Stilgherrian, one of my favourite bloggers, does a lot; he writes regular articles on his blog (as well as others like Crikey) about whatever topic has peaked his interest at the time, often adding his own humorous views for further entertainment. The man also hosts a (near)weekly live show streamed over the internet where he talks about anything of interest to him that week. In both Stilgherrian communicates prolifically with his readers and viewers to get the best out of his content. But this past week, the man encountered a hurdle.

His latest project, which involves travelling to Tanzania to report on what’s happening there on behalf of ActionAid Australia (who until he announced his plan, I’d never actually heard of), and to set up a sort of training program on blogging, so that the community there can communicate with the world about themselves and their experiences. Sounds like a good idea. To accompany his written accounts, Stilgherrian has also started making video diaries of what’s going on. The aforementioned hurdle comes from this project, in which one reader on the blog (a member of ActionAid) made a comment in a post about a topless garden gnome which features in the background of the videos, named Gnaomi. He stated on behalf of the company that it offended woman’s rights and went against what ActionAid stood for, and that it had to go from the videos. Suddenly, the conversation turned from one about the adventure into Africa to connect with the poorer populations, to one of sexual exploitation.

Today, Stilgherrian made the decision to keep his complete independence and declared that Gnaomi stays. The best decision for independent journalism, of course. The full explanation and “thesis” is here, but essentially, he’s keeping it partly to state that he makes what he wants, and that he “calls it how [he] sees it”; with biting statements if the topic requires it.

To me, the idea that a comical gnome statuette in the background of a video could cause so much controversy, is nothing short of ridiculous. I hadn’t actually noticed it because I’d been busy paying attention to what the man had to say. When I did see it, I laughed; it’s meant to be funny. I can understand people worrying, but I feel they’re looking too much into it.

The whole thing was silly, but it’s a good chance for the man to assert his position as a writer independent of outside control.