How & why?
The internet has memorably been described as "garbage at the speed of light". We have instant access to almost limitless rubbish as never before. But it seems to me that this offers two encouraging implications. First, low standards are a symptom of healthy pluralism - there's a lot of rubbish in our newspapers too, but that's because we have a free and competitive press serving all parts of the market and that's better than the alternatives. Second, blogs like this can only be as good as their content and contributors. As the spiritual home of journalists, St Bride's ought to be a forum for a high quality of dialectic among its dispersed congregation - and for many more besides.
The media deal with issues that are critical to the future of our planet on a daily basis - global warming, genetic engineering, poverty and natural disaster, war and terrorism. Then there are issues that seem closer to home: family breakdown and violence, drugs and drunkenness, gender politics and issues of human sexuality. And, before it all sounds too bleak, we live in a time of unparalleled access to much of what we want, fuelled by prosperity and economic independence. And, while there's much to worry about, there's much to laugh about too.
St Bride's should be an exchange for such currencies. A Rialto Bridge, rich in conversation, spanning the old Fleet Street and the new. We were the home of the first commercial printing press which revolutionised the spread of the printed word. We span the diaspora of the newspapers and the transformation of Fleet Street from geographical to metaphorical locus. Now, a little over 500 years after that first printing press arrived, the internet has sparked another media revolution. And, again, St Bride's has the opportunity to widen its reach and we hope that this site can be a public place in which we can discuss and revise our views and attitudes to a rapidly changing world.
We very much hope that you will post comments and views spontaneously or in response to articles written by contributors representing as broad a gamut of opinion as possible. Contributions will be moderated - and I reserve the traditional, though accountable, rights of editorship. No comment can be posted without it first being monitored and assessed. We aim to publish as many comments as possible, but we won't publish any which are gratuitously abusive or offensive - or, in the finer traditions of Fleet Street, which are downright boring.
Comments should be based around the original post and any subsequent discussion. If you want to make a more general comment, or to submit an article for consideration, then please email us. If we don't always respond to every email, we will at least read them all.
Please join in. In a wounded and wounding world, communication can only be healing.