I live sweat...

“We can do better. We should do better.” Costa Koutsoutis offers his thoughts on the shortcomings of subcultural journalism

(Andy’s note: If you’d like to write a guest piece on this topic, whatever your view, please get in touch via ilivesweat at gmail dot com.)

Coming from backgrounds in what would be considered “outsider” cultures, like independent music and comic book culture, it’s initially hard to see where serious critical works about either one can be found. Granted, in the past several years (arguably decades if you’re including The Comics Journal), there has been a growth in terms of critical analysis and serious journalism. However, to the outside world, that sort of writing is seen as less than professional, primarily because of the nature of the cultures.

A huge aspect of writing about outsider cultures are news announcements regarding things starting, things ending, and things changing. For the most part you still do find that from what are considered “professional” news outlets for outsider cultures. To get any real measure of critical analysis, questioning, reporting, or academic thought, you need to look at amateur work.

Fan-driven outlets such as ‘zines and blogs are where people have traditionally gone for that sort of stuff. We go to blogs for reviews of material, for opinions on topics within the communities, and for analysis of topics and issues that have come out of the culture. It’s the inherit nature of being a fan, as well as having the writing bug, either as an academic or a journalism-related fan; You want to write.

However, this is where I think that we as communities have to admit it starts to fall short. Far too often, I see terribly-put together ‘zines about music that are pretty illegible and unprofessional. I’m sorry, but in this day and age there is no excuse to have the resources to create a print periodical and not be able to make it look at least semi-professional. I can’t tell you the amount of ‘zines I’d get and just throw out without reading them. Why? Too small print that seemed almost purposefully smudged and dark, and proofreading and editing mistakes that anyone with ten minutes to spare and a dictionary could have caught. It was painful to see resources and potential go to so much waste simply because the standards that ‘zine communities set for themselves (or a lack thereof) are simply not high enough.

The Internet and blogs are another monster altogether, with content appropriated and used without citation, and opinions and editorials passed off as “journalism”, that, because of the unorganized urgency with which the mainstream press tries to appropriate web journalism, ends up being touted as a legitimate outlet.

And for those that put a lot of work into actually attempting to be serious non-traditional media outlets and writers/critics, that’s a serious blow to the you-know-what. The unfortunate acceptance of less-than-professional writing in “outsider” cultures as a legitimate has created a stigma and a standard where work that would be considered as “average” in any other academic or journalism outlet is now “extraordinary” to comics and music writers.

And that’s a shame.

As writers and critics, we need to hold ourselves to higher standards as communities when it comes to aspects like journalism and academics. Plain and simple.

No one is going to take you seriously if you don’t take your craft seriously. That’s what it always boils down to, from art, to journalism, to academics, to cartooning, to music. And when it comes to trying to encourage serious discussions and analysis about issues in your craft and culture, the way you approach it is incredibly important. Applying some key professional basics that cost no money can go a long way to separate you from everyone else. Taking the time to create your outlet, working to establish real contacts, doing the actual research, covering every base when it comes to proper links and citations, and making sure you have the rights to use images… It’s a lot of work.

Going on Twitter or Facebook and calling yourself a critic, just because you tell me just how deep you think Alan Moore is every day? Not working, especially if you want to run with the big boys. Making purposefully sloppy ‘zines with purposefully non-structured writing in it just for the sake of appearing “punk rock”? Doesn’t make me take you seriously as a journalist or critic. The first thing I did when I seriously started writing as an academic was get style guides. The same goes for my journalism; I got cheap copies of style guides and format examples. I was working with editors at this point as a writer, and they didn’t take any shit when it came to telling me I was wasting their time with rough drafts.

Don’t waste my time with your rough drafts. If we want to be able to do this as serious writing, we need to stop considering our rough drafts as being “good enough”. It’s not good enough. We can do better. We should do better. We, as writers, critics, bloggers, journalists, and academics, owe it to everyone who reads our work and takes something away from it.

Costa Koutsoutis is a culture writer/editor, educator, and cartoonist. He grades papers, fights fanboys, writes about music and comic books, and walks the dog in Columbus, Ohio. He’s got a Hot Water Music tattoo and reads newspaper comic strips regularly. He blogs here.