Delusions of grandeur

Who you gonna call?

Another 'professional' who might not fully grasp why they get feted as much as they do.

Is the web's amateur hour over?

Not so much 'who you know', but 'who you work for'. Though the principle's the same, and little to do with talent, though it should be.

Because it is all about making money, which the best talent, well-harnessed, should generate.

Sadly, as layer upon layer of gatekeeper and administrator gets added, it would appear that 'other factors' come into play.

To a web-struck musical individual I tried to equate to the situation of dashing to a virtual HMV store because your CD is on the shelves. Unfortunately, other than you, the situation is still that no one else knows it's there, no matter how good, and the racks are about 1,000 miles long.

So while the money may no longer be required for creation, the 'powers that fee' now focus on controlling access and exposure.

'twas ever thus.

Just products from a brand. Hence, I wonder if the perceived 'value' is from 'old-fashioned professional journalists' or the fact that they work for 'mainstream media organisations' with a better chance of delivering an audience.

Hence it might be worth seeing if one gets invited to report because of one's reputation (if possibly hard to divorce totally from the employer) or because of the name at the top of the card or as dropped by the researcher.

'xx, talented bloke-who-writes' vs. yy from the BBC, national broadcaster with access to 60 million possible consumers. Tough, but maybe a simply grubby call. Especially when drawing up dinner invites that may lead to exposure to the largest audience.