M.I.A. Is A Citizen Journalist?

Apparently M.I.A., the captivating and beguiling rapper, records her interviews with reporters. In response to an unflattering, widely read profile in the Times Magazine, she tweeted the writer's cell phone number, prompting thousands to call, and then posted excerpts from her recordings of their interviews on her Web site. They showed M.I.A. isn't as big a fan of truffle french fries as the story implied -- a seemingly minor detail that was quite damning in context -- and that she was misquoted at least once. The Times has since published an Editors' Note.

M.I.A. is tough to summarize in a profile and the writer, Lynn Hirschberg, hit and missed. Hirschberg is correct that M.I.A.'s political views are often simplistic enough to resemble a college freshman's and that the more famous one becomes, the harder it is to stay true to one's origins and causes (in M.I.A.'s case, the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lanka). While it doesn't help that M.I.A. is marrying into the Bronfman family fortune, wealth and championing causes to benefit the poor aren't mutually exclusive. The most prominent American example is the Kennedys, though their situation and M.I.A. are very, very different. Also, as a college friend points out in his blog post, she's not the first artist to be successful, excellent and controversial. Hirschberg wildly missed on those.

Really, M.I.A. is a fascinating example of the 21st century. Her personal history and music are a deep multicultural mix, emblematic of post-colonial diaspora (Colombo to London to Brooklyn to L.A. and back) and the Internet's ability to allow people to snatch their favorite beats and sounds, wherever they are. She understands the power of social networking and branding like few others. She knows that controversy ricochets around and across the world endlessly, thanks to search engines. As nauseating as it can be, nothing moves albums like people talking about you, no matter what it is they're talking about.

My friend takes apart Hirschberg very well, so I'll end by noting how M.I.A.'s decision to post the interview herself on the Internet is a powerful example of people taking reporting into their own hands and challenging -- and weakening -- newspapers' long-held appearance of omnipotence. Why be subject to a magazine profile that may be scathing because of one reporter's perspective when you can post your own thoughts directly on your Web site and send them straight to your fans?

Update: As noted previously in these pages, I like M.I.A.'s music.