To continue my previous tirade about useless news, this
article was published yesterday on News24 about how Cape Town rap act
Die Antwoord is taking the net by storm, thanks to a newly updated website and coverage at amongst others, everyone's favourite BlogThatWillCrashYourSite, BoingBoing (
here and
here).
The News24 article merely reposts a Reuters article that in turn just oozes original research. The process: quick check at Facebook, check phone call, quick check on Twitter. If some individual tweets they're like Eminem, use it as a Significant Universal Truth. Or write, after a quote: "...said Die Antwoord's frontman, only known as Ninja" and move on. It's like they're using Google China.
Am I expecting too much to hope for a bit more? For someone in the story chain to insist on a bit more meat, a bit of reflection and inquisitiveness before the story is filed? For making the connection with precursors like
Max Normal?
At least the BoingBoing readers do. Links everywhere! Debates about whether it's parody, or a concept and who the people are. The informal users are the real sources of information on the web and the formal online news sites are doing a poor job of writing informed articles.
That message is not the vendor's fault (I've contacted them). They are simply not allowed to sell me, the South African, that offending record, because the label has some territorial distribution deal with... the UK... Patagonia... the mystical "Africa"... whoever and wherever I am lumped under this week, and they cannot allow me to legally buy (yes, pay for) a digital copy. If I want it, I have to haul my arse to whatever local store *might* sell the cd... or order an import.
