Perhaps we don’t want mainstream legitimacy for these outlets, perhaps we want them to remain an underground, guerilla form of reviewing, but that would be a bit like (slightly strained simile incoming) discovering a spring and just using it to splash the grown-ups, instead of letting people drink the water or using it to power waterwheels and things.

Of course we’re going to use these services to review things whether the incumbents like it or not, but until they get with the programme the public face of criticism is still outdated and technophobic, and so that’s how criticism as a profession will continue to be viewed.

Interestingly though, while critics have been singled out as being the most expendable in a digital age, there’s still a very real issue of authority.

This isn’t to say “citizen” reviewing isn’t legit; everyone knows word of mouth is the best (or most brutal) advertising there is. But as someone who writes theatre reviews for print (and loves to read the words of others for comparison), I feel people still want to hear from a learned, experienced source who does this kind of thing day in and day out as opposed to someone who simply vents about a movie or show they didn’t like.

I use Facebook to give quick impressions of things I’ve seen (usually if I’ve loved or loathed them), but when people ask “what did you really think about show x?”, I always refer to the print version, as this is the one I’ve slaved over and made sure conveys *all* my thoughts, important context etc.

It also comes back to the issue of circulation – even the most popular Australian blogger isn’t going to reach more people than say a local paper or street press publication. Until the majority of media consumers reject papers outright, the dinosaur reviewers (and the products they write for) will still play a central and vital role in the reviewing process.

Blogging isn’t dead, and micro-blogging of the verbal (Twitter), audio (Utterli) or video (Seesmic/12 secs) variety is just another version of the old word of mouth review, and those of us in the business know how powerful word of mouth is.

Certainly the so-called ‘heritage media’ are lagging sadly behind if they do not see the value to their organisation of engaging with their readership … whether it’s online or in print. Many are rushing to catch up and their heritage fingerprints are still all over these attempts to get with it. That’s OK too. We’re all in the same cyber-stream and it’s moving very quickly indeed.

As Oscar might have said, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked, tweeted or chatted about. What’s wrong with spreading the talk on theatre. Bring it on, say I.

If he’s worried about losing his job, why doesn’t he step into the technological generation? Telling the bloggers to go away won’t do it. And if he won’t, then perhaps he shouldn’t do the job.