A funny thing has just happened to me and all because of this blog. It’s mad. Thanks to a post I wrote last year, I’ve received an invitation to go to London and be photographed (aarghh!) for a feature in one of the national papers! Whaaat???!!! I told you it was mad – but it’s true! And not only will they pay all expenses but they'll pay a nice little fee as well. After checking it all out I know it's genuine; I should also add that it wouldn't just be me.
I won't go into detail here as the paper is yet to run it (I'll be looking out for it online when it does and may update this then – meanwhile, sorry to sound so mysterious!) but the thing is, it presented me with an unexpected moral dilemma. What would you do?
Would you give up a few hours of your life to do something totally different from anything you’ve ever done before AND get paid for it? (Especially if you’re skint?!)
Would you be willing to take part in a professional photoshoot for a very well-known publication? Yep, a 'photoshoot'...! *
Sounds quite exciting so far, perhaps…?
…But would you do it for one of our major tabloid newspapers (I won’t say which one although you can find a clue in the name of this blog…) even though you absolutely hate what they’re about?
As it happens, I had to decline for a practical reason, but I still thought about it... and was wondering what the experience would be like... and I still am...and I have to confess that a little, devilish, secret exhibitionist part of me wishes in a way that I could embrace it, in spite of my shyness and my dislike of being photographed. Simply because it’s just not the sort of thing that happens every day. Oh and the money… let’s not forget the money. So perhaps it was just as well that another factor made the decision for me and I didn’t have to wrestle with my conscience or my paradox any further.
Whatever contempt I have for the newspaper in question, though, I have to admit, it was nice to be asked!
You just never know who might be reading your blog….
* Fully clothed, I hasten to add.
If it was for The Daily Mail I will be crushed that you declined.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing I'm the only regular reader here of that roundly hated publication. HA. I pull it up at work when I'm bored and if you had popped up on my screen there...that would have made my online week.
Page 3?
Even though I consider myself to be a hard line socialist, I do read the Mail from time to time. Politically they are clearly nuts but there's generally more to read there than your average tabloid and you don't have to agree with them (though, I sometimes do). Besides, what's the point of reading stuff just to confirm your own prejudices when you can take a look at someone else's? Plus, I'm a fan of Peter Hitchins.
DeleteYou did the right thing. I'm well proud of you.
ReplyDeleteFascinating. I'd would probably have gone for the experience and the money but, then again, I have no morals. I'd love to know more of the details.
ReplyDeleteI have a sneaky suspicion that I know what piece it was they were interested in - only because they do have a tendency to want to find things to meet the stereotypes they perpetuate. I wouldn't have blamed you if you had done it - you can always think of it as taking money from the Murdochs rather than being in their pay !(But I'm also glad you didn't !)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, all - it might sound silly but I sort of needed to get that off my chest because it was making me feel a bit weird! You know when you try and picture yourself in an alien situation, just to see if you *could* do it, but you have real difficulty reconciling it with yourself? (I'm sure I'm making far too much of it of course..!)
ReplyDeleteIronically if I could've done it anonymously with no picture I might have contributed (for the money! but with the attitude you suggest, Bel Mondo!) whatever that says about my moral backbone...!
...But not for the Daily Mail ;-)
Principles schminciples. What have you got to lose? Seriously, you've gotta be in same to win same. My little blogette has got me in and out of all sorts of scrapes in the the few short years it's been off the leash; everything from BBC gigs to some bloke in Southend with a radio station in his local boozer (I think you know who I'm talking about?) + a few Japanese readers thrown in for good measure. And that's without mention of my brush with Alice Cooper's legal people. It's not too late to reconsider!
ReplyDeleteOh, DON'T!!! I vacillate enough as it is...
DeleteYou're scaring me now though - what's this about Alice Cooper's legal people?? Aargh. What on earth have we started with this blogging lark..?!
Well done on being asked. Always nice to know somebody is taking notice!
ReplyDeleteFunnily I was thinking about this dilemma the other day mainly because of how Kevin Rowland did an interview for The Sun purely to plug his new Dexys album. He then gave a very hand-wringing explanation as to why. He's always played the integrity card and for him to do that, for me, was a total cop out. Principles, like everything it seems, has a price. Disappointing.
Thanks... the integrity thing can be a contentious issue I know - I've witnessed a lot of that through some associations with political bands and there are always some sticking points and contradictions...
DeleteWell at least my conscience is clear on this particular thing at least, I think I'd just be too embarrassed to be honest!
Re. my reply above... last line shoulda read:
Delete"..I think I'd just be too embarrassed *COMMA* to be honest". I just realised that forgetting that little comma changed the whole meaning!
I feel like I've only got half a picture here...I think I've clocked the right rag, but can't imagine what they might have asked you to do that didn't involve knockers, TOWIE or football and I can't link any of those up to any of your posts. I'm very fascinated by what on earth it might have been!
ReplyDeleteMoral dilemmas in my own professional life take a slightly different form...I was once referred a patient who turned out to be an active Neo Nazi, and despite a lot of professional effort, I just wasn't quite able to see their 'politics' as a mere manifestation of neurosis that could be worked on. I had to tell them that I couldn't treat them. We all have our limits.
Hee hee - you're right - no knockers or TOWIE or football here! I feel like I'm being a right little tease not saying any more - will hopefully be able to reveal it soon - and it's not that exciting so you'll probably just feel let down..! But it did seem quite funny and it really made me think. I'd have been such a fish out of water apart from anything else.
DeleteOh I don't envy you your moral dilemma about the patient. I think your limits are definitely in the right place...
"You just never know who might be reading your blog…." No-one or at least a very very very small amount of humanity :-)
ReplyDeleteMy son had a similar dilemma - he had some photos he had taken of birds (Starlings flying about... honestly!) he put them on Flikr. An agency contacted him and asked if they could act as agent on them - he said yes thinking nothing would come of it. They did get published, in the Metro (freebie paper through London etc.) and on the Daily Mail online... oh dear, he has a major political disagreement with the Mail but he had signed over to the agency and the deal was done. Still the last laugh it that... the Mail have still not paid and the agency are "taking appropriate actions to recover the fee"... :-)
Oh, interesting... It's still a great compliment that your son's photos got picked up, and something he can be proud of for taking in the first place, never mind who used them. But I can understand how he felt, of course! Hope he got his share of the fee...?
DeleteNice to be noticed, that makes the whole thing worthwhile. Especially as you write some great stories. Why not sell your soul to the devil..... just a smidgen!?
ReplyDeleteThank you! Ah, the devil takes many forms... but too late now anyway - the photoshoot was yesterday - I'll be keeping my eyes peeled online to find out what I missed, tho', and if so I may let you know here...
DeleteWhat was it that made them interested, C? They weren't surely doing a feature on 'Blogging Stars' or some such nonsense, were they? Just imagine...Sun-readers flocking here...! I'm sure your mind boggles at that thought. No fear of that at my 'place' - ha!
ReplyDeleteHee hee! I hope I can tell all soon (such mystery, eh?) I'm checking the online version obsessively for the feature every day, though, which is obviously slightly worrying.
DeleteMy mind boggles at that thought indeed and I shall be checking your place for signs of an invasion too...
You'll know when comments such as 'LOADA BLEEDIN' RUBBISH!' and 'PHEW, WHAT A SCORCHIN' BLOG!' are posted. I'm hoping to reach that kind of audience, but it's not easy.
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