Martha and the bloggers

There’s been a lot of fuss in the food blogosphere recently which can be summed up as the story of Martha and the bloggers. It is not about a new singing group (though that is a great name) but about an interview Martha Stewart gave to Bloomberg TV in which she is quoted as saying about bloggers, ““They’re not trained editors and writers at Vogue magazine. I mean, there are bloggers writing recipes that aren’t tested, that aren’t necessarily very good or are copies of everything that really good editors have created and done. Bloggers create kind of a popularity. But they are not the experts and we have to understand that.”

This did not go over at all well. Not only are there some excellent bloggers who can easily refute that criticism but, to a large extent, Martha’s audience for her media productions and home goods are the same people who love to read food and home blogs – which, at least until now, often championed and gave publicity to Martha’s recipes and products. As a writer at Blog Her indignantly wrote: 

“Some bloggers may not meet your (reputedly high) standards for one thing or another, whether it’s AP style or studio photography or test kitchen layout, but there’s no doubt about one thing: They’re experts. For one thing, they’re experts in blogging itself. They are doing it every day. You are not — and it’s clear in your interview that you’re not aware, or have forgotten, that blogging is a community activity, and that the community takes its role in upholding standards very seriously. Sure, those standards haven’t been 100% agreed upon; social media is still a young media. But it’s also true that bloggers probably know more about, and can better identify, what makes an expert than you can.”

However, it appears that Martha, maybe, has seen the error of her ways. Eater reports that she’s posted a Tweet that reads, “Big hubbub about me not supporting bloggers. Martha Stewart loves most bloggers who are great friends and trusted allies.”

Not to our mind a very gracious explanation or apology for the hurt feelings – whether people are too sensitive or not. We’d have to agree with Adam Roberts who writes in HuffPost Taste, “This was a telling, unguarded moment for Martha and one that reflects the vintage, bespoke bubble she’s living in with her dogs in Connecticut.”

Now, admittedly, Martha has created her empire by creating an idealized world where people had the time to carve immaculate pumpkins or shellack turkeys, but her secret was that she never acknowledged that reaching that ideal was less than possible for most people who exist in the real day-to-day world. We think she has forgotten that keeping up a pretense that she and her audience were sisters (and brothers) underneath was vitally important to both her success and her public  –  and that is why we’re disappointed.