Gawker
Jeff Jarvis, who invented Entertainment Weekly, used to work for the Chicago Tribune, where his mom would read his stories and then tell him all about them, because the old coot didn't realize he had written them himself. You know, this kind of thing happens. Just yesterday my wife told me about this crazy new publisher that wasn't going to pay advances or accept returns. The daughter of a newspaper bureau chief told me how her dad couldn't get anyone in the family to read his stuff. But Jarvis, now an angry blogger, isn't like the rest of us. He wants to take out what his mom did to him on an entire profession, so today he said on CNN some local newspaper writers should be fired because of his mother:
JARVIS: It's an economic decision, Howie. You know, it starts with a joke where a priest, a rabbi and critic get on a boat, and one of them has to get off. And that's really what this is about. There is no punch line here. It's that it's about saving the leaking boat of newspapers.
And, you know, criticism has changed necessarily, because it's not inherently local. The opinion about a movie in Cincinnati or Cleveland is not different...
HOWARD KURTZ, Reliable Sources, CNN: Jeff Jarvis, I mean, I certainly agree that if you're really down to a crunch and you've got to lay off the city hall reporter, or the school's reporter, maybe the critic is going to go first. But what about the local flavor of a newspaper? I mean, people arguing about whether Joe Jones panned or praised the new George Clooney flick.
Isn't that — wouldn't that be lost?
JARVIS: I don't really buy that. There is nothing local about it.
You know, when I worked for "The Chicago Tribune," in the same city with my parents, my mother would tell me about stories that she read in the paper. And I'd have to say, "Ma, yes, I know. I wrote it."
My own mother didn't notice my own byline. So I don't think...
KURTZ: Don't bring your family problems into this.
JARVIS: It tells you a lot, I know. But I don't think that that value of the byline is so great.
Transcript: [CNN]
(Photo via Buzzmachine)
Comments
I think you have a pronoun problem in the first sentence. The feminine form of "coot" is "biddy"
Good call, Howard. Where, oh where, are we going to find reviews of popular entertainment media if not in our local newspaper?
@moff: Ha, I forgot to say I actually agree with Jarvis' (and your) point.
@The Cooler: You may very well be right! I have learned so much about the word "coot" tonight....
@Ryan Tate: PS (seriously, your post made me jump on Google)
Aw Jeff I too know the feeling of parental thoughtlessness. In 7th grade I made a paper mache statue of an elephant for my mom and she told everyone that it was a puppy.
To be old and senile. Reminds me of the times when I would watch a football game on TV with my grandpa and our team would score. He'd cheer loudly, they'd show a replay of the touchdown, and he'd think that our team scored again!
As someone who almost invariably reads reviews on the web,* this is not a big deal to me. The one "local" movie critic I've encountered, Joe Bob Briggs, a persona/pseudonym, liked to spice up his pieces with comments that I found offensive, if not out-and-out racist.
Still, more voices are usually better than fewer. Some of those voices belong to people who need a salary. How many bloggers can afford to send themselves to Cannes?
*I Google the movie title and "reviews," or go to www.rottentomatoes.com or [www.mrqe.com] or, of course, www.imdb.com (external reviews).
I could be wrong, but I can't but think that the person who is going to read the review about the esoteric little indie film -- the kind of person who it was suggested would lose out -- probably does have web access one way or another.
I have to agree with him. If you have to cut fat, wouldn't you rather the movie critic went than the city hall reporter?
At least his mother READ the stories.
Actually, my cousin once copied and pasted an entire post from my blog into her Facebook, letting people think she'd written it without realizing:
A) it contained a link to my blog, so I could follow it and find out the dirty thief
B) that her cousin had written it in the first place. She got it in an email and thought it was free to post. I larned her good!
@raincoaster: YOU were that poor Nigerian who couldn't get access to his bank account?
I'd make a joke here, but - oh fuck it. YO MOMMA!!!
@Seeräuber Jenny:
Another good site that collects reviews: [www.metacritic.com]
One could argue that the man who invented Entertainment weekly cheapened all kinds of criticism by keeping it short, adding letter grades, and so on. So it is no surprise he would want to get rid of all critics. They are obviously interchangeable to him and only matter when they give letter grades, and anyone can give a letter grade. Putz.
Like The Beatles, I don't think Gawker writers should reveal they are married.
But if they get rid of all the movie critics from smaller papers, where are the mediocre movies going to get their rave reviews to quote in their ads and trailers?
Oh, I think there is a punch line there. It just comes later when Kurtz says: "Don't bring your family problems into this." That's funny.
As for local movie reviewers, on the rare occasion when they don't like a film, that is usually a sign that I should go and see it. But that is often true with David Denby as well.
Jarvis lost my respect when he did not approve my add on facebook. Looks like you need Columbia to hang out with smartypants. fuck him. seriously.
Yeah, I didn't invent EW or anything, but I'm a reporter and my mom often quotes my stories to me not realizing I wrote them. I usually just ignore it, grateful she's getting her news from someone other than Bill O'Reilly. But really Jarvis? Don't take away my fucking byline.
I know no Mo. I have nothing to do with Columbia. And I am not inclined any stranger named Moe who wants to fuck me, seriously. Have you considered why you have a problem making friends, Moe?
@Edward Lionhart
A rather succinct review of me and my career, I'd say -- short enough for EW. I gather you give me an F.
@Jeff Jarvis: Hi! You're right!! No one ever notices my byline except other reporters!!!
@The Cooler: Thank you! I thought they were saying Jarvis was too senile to recall his own stories. Yes. Biddy.
@Jeff Jarvis: I'm not Moe, but my real life alter ego is someone who would have liked to have been your facebook buddy for the purpose of his future professional development and networking. You declined. Maybe you only add people you know in real life, but (my alter ego) would have liked to have added you. Isn't that the point of social networks?
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