#computational journalism

THE FASHION BLOGGER

Call it amateur, but the rise of the fashion blogger is real. Once marginalised by their lack of degree or profession, the blogger was a rare sight on any forum of journalism. Many believed it was pure PR, disguised by the pretence of journalism. However, if new media has started anything, it’s the democratisation of the journalism sphere. 

Fashion bloggers are now seen as the voices of potential - the people that can freely, analytically and without the constraints of appeasing media standards and organisations, comment with fresh perspectives in an industry that relies on the ideal of the ‘new’. However, is this ‘freedom’ damaging to the integrity of journalism? 

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance developed the Journalist’s Code of Ethics in 1944 which has since served as a core for Australian press self-regulation. Bloggers, by their separation to traditional media professionals, and the absence of ‘quality-control’ associated with media representation, are not applicable to this code. This, along with a lack of experience and education in the areas, presses the argument on blogging as being an unprofessional practice and an unreliable source for fashion news - especially in a society where the detriments of fake news are so very real.

Author Geoffrey Millerson (1964, p. 14) argues that professional practice can be defined by 23 characteristics. Six of these are transferable across industries:

1. A skill based on theoretical knowledge.

2. Intellectual training and education.

3. The testing of competence .

4. Closure of the profession by restrictive organisation.

5. A code of conduct.

6. An altruistic service in the affairs of others.

Evaluating fashion bloggers against this criteria proved that a blogger cannot currently be defined as a profession as the nature of blogging only appeals to the sixth characteristic. Equally so, the capabilities and lack of boundaries characteristic to blog posting continues to lower the bar on what constitutes ‘journalism,' and therefore implementing the ‘professionalism’ of the job. However, their voice, as one that is accessible anywhere in the world on any device and any online platform, is on none of us can really avoid as a forum of fashion news.

The role of the fashion blogger in new media is one that is disruptive - one that will break down the barriers of ‘professional practice’ and continue to democratise the journalistic sphere until we all could just be bloggers or civil journalists across multiple news platforms. Either way, the current journalists playing field sees the bloggers with reigns over the internet, and in today’s digital world, perhaps it’s them that are the highest stakeholders.

Figure 1: Growth of readership for Australian fashion magazines in the span of 12 months. Data retrieved from Roy Morgan. 

THE TANGIBLE FASHION MAGAZINE

As seen from the data visualisation above, readership values for Australian fashion magazines in the past twelve months are staying pretty stagnant, or if not, slipping (see Frankie). This shows us the growing concern for the future of print media, and more specifically, the fashion magazine.

Industry professionals still remain adamant that print is irreplaceable. Former fashion editor for Queensland media corporations Quest Newspapers, Courier Mail and (now inactive) BMagazine, Laura Churchill, says that although she may be a ‘dinosaur’ in her thinking, she still ‘loves to be able to pick up a newspaper or a magazine and be able to read something tangible - something you can keep’. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL MINI INTERVIEW WITH LAURA CHURCHILL

Dinosaur? Maybe. Just maybe.

The battle between online media, such as blogs, and print media is undoubtedly a paradigm shift as the world continues to digitalise. This shift, and opening of new platforms, would give off the idea of more job opportunities, however in most publications, print journalism teams also contribute to their digital platforms, which perhaps is a core lesson for the future of fashion journalism (not to foreshadow or anything, wink).

The shift was given life by the rapid rise of technology and the Internet. These complimenting areas have distributed the idea of the world as an interconnected web of politics, economics and culture due to the technologies speeding up the delivery of information (Arnould et al., 2005, p. 214-215). Journalism and fashion, as two industries that rely on time, politics, economics and culture at their cores, are pretty cozy in this domain. Repeatedly, we’re seeing this shift leave print media in the dust.

A key example of this is the UK edition of the internationally renowned InStyle Magazine, which in 2016 stopped its print publication to instead focus on online-only distribution. 

“What we have achieved with InStyle over the last few years has been hugely rewarding and the team has, rightly, won numerous awards and nominations for their work across print and digital,” said editor Charlotte Moore.

“But the fashion world is changing dramatically - the way our audience interacts with it is changing and we have to change to meet that challenge. With a focus on delivering the InStyle experience across all digital platforms, we can really give our audience 24-hour access to all the fashion and beauty looks, trends and brands they clearly have such a huge appetite for.”

However, this bold decision from InStyle UK was met with criticism as leading fashion and journalism professionals believe that the future for print remains strong.

“I think that magazines, Vogue and Condé Nast, all they do is talk about online content and online projects. And I think they slightly forget their own DNA,” says Godfrey Deeny, former fashion editor-at-large of Le Figaro. 

“The DNA of magazines is the same as the DNA of luxury products: to make beautiful objects and reflect a certain amount of intelligence.”

If there were any greater example of adapting to both print and online, let it be Deeny’s ventures between them both. Deeny, other than being the former fashion editor at Le Figaro, has an extensive journalistic history as the editor-in-chief of Vogue Hommes International, and buerau chief of Women’s Wear Daily in Paris, under John Fairchild (Business of Fashion, 2018). He is currently positioned as the editor-in-chief of German magazine Achtung while still contributing fashion critiques for Le Figaro. Although boasting the impressive resume of print-focused titles, Deeny was also highly involved in the launch of online fashion website, the Fashion Wire Daily, as the European editor-at-large, AND just last year succeeded as the inaugural international editor-in-chief of Fashion Network.com. 

By embracing positions across both mediums, Deeny has been able to secure a sensational career in fashion journalism that spans over 25 years. 

IMAGE 1: Print and Online examples of fashion journalism. Image credit to Megan Dennis.

Perhaps then, a collaboration (rather than a battle!) between the print and digital sides, is at the core of a thriving future for fashion journalism. By marrying the online idea of immediacy and the reputable traditions of print, all aspiring journalists would be ‘multi-lingual’ in their approaches to media platforms. The notion of being a cross-disciplinary journalist is also referred to as multi-skilling, or up-skilling - a trend that sees the journalism industry depart from specialisation in platforms (such as broadcast journalists, print journalists etc.) to adapt to all areas of journalism for maximised flexibility (Nygren, 2014, p. 76). In a survey conducted in 2012 of 1,500 journalists, 73% could see future journalists being multi-skilled (Nygren, 2014, p. 81). Six years later, we are the future journalists. As myself, and other’s in my position begin our journalism careers with an eye for fashion journalism, the area of multi-skilling needs to be at the fore-front of our minds.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ashlee Murphy is a third year fashion and journalism student at the Queensland University of Technology. While her ultimate goal is to overthrow the great Anna Wintour in her position as Vogue Editor-in-Chief (see Ashlee’s own interesting interpretation of this above), Ashlee knows that Rome wasn’t built in a day and is happy to embrace the freelancer life until her reign of the fashion journalism industry comes. If she’s not busy reading up on critical areas of fashion studies and brushing up on her online shopping skills, she’s raising a beautiful labrador x golden retriever puppy. 

REFERENCES

Abnett, K. (2016). “How Newspaper Supplements Took On Fashion Magazines.” Business of Fashion, February 17, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/how-newspaper-supplements-are-beating-fashion-magazines-at-their-own-game

Arnould, E., Price, L., & Zinkhan, G. (2004). Consumers (2nd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Arthur, C. (2012). “A blogger or a journalist? Debate over the power and influence of tech writers”. The Guardian, February 27, 2012. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/feb/26/blogger-journalist-silicon-valley-dan-lyons

Business of Fashion (2018). Godfrey Deeny. Retrieved from https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/godfrey-deeny

Hermida, A. (2010). TWITTERING THE NEWS. Journalism Practice 4 (3), 297–308. DOI: 10.1080/17512781003640703

Jackson, J. (2016). InStyle UK magazine to shut print edition. The Guardian, October 19, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/19/instyle-uk-magazine-digital-only-time-inc

Maisey, S. (2017). “In conversation with fashion critic Godfrey Deeny - who has spent 25 years critiquing the industry.” Lifestyle, November 11, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/in-conversation-with-fashion-critic-godfrey-deeny-who-has-spent-25-years-critiquing-the-industry-1.674746

MEAA. (2018). MEAA Journalist Code of Ethics. Retrieved from https://www.meaa.org/meaa-media/code-of-ethics/

Millerson, G. (1964). The Qualifying Associations: A Study of Professionalization. London: Routledge and Paul.

Nygren, G. (2014).Multiskilling in the Newsroom: De-skilling or Re-skilling of Journalistic Work? The Journal of Media Innovations 1 (2): 75-96. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5617/jmi.v1i2.876

Roy Morgan. (2018). Australian Magazine Readership, 12 months to June 2018. Retrieved from http://www.roymorgan.com/industries/media/readership/magazine-readership