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San Francisco, 2:16 AM
Wed Dec 9
45 posts in the last 24 hours
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12:36 AM
[www.zeroboutique.com]
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I gave them a nod.
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But you never know. How much would I pay to read Gawker right now? I don't have an e-reader. But am I less likely to come back? Changing that dynamic is what Gawker needs to worry about.
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But I don't see why this couldn't complement a publication's website and perhaps provide them with some extra income.
Off the top of my head - A lot of magazine sites don't include the pretty pictures and this appears to let them to publish in the original layout.
Right now it's just the big boys, but if they open it up to smaller publications, it could be a boon for them.
I know that I sometimes see something on Hulu that's on a network, I don't get, so I'll sample it. The same could be true with this service, though it may sound a little like Pathfinder, but a one-stop electronic newsstand could introduce someone to a tiny publication from a regional source.
And though it may not be part of the current thinking, but if they make some of the additional advertising location-aware, they'll have another source of income, they can't access right now. Not to mention that adding location info to their formally static ads could give their sales a needed boost.
(For example, A Starbucks ad could include a map to the nearest location or a Holiday Inn Express advertisement could list those on the road ahead.)
12/08/09
(Though of course, your e-reader would have to know where you are)
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Julia Allison (btw, Baugher is her last name, not Allison) writes opinion pieces, not articles involving research or interviews with actual human beings. Just because she has been paid to write a series of words in a weekly newsmagazine does not mean she is a journalist. If that's the case, then Anna Quindlen should stop yammering on about her family and start reporting on the goings on in Afghanistan.
Calling her and those like her journalists -- which Gawker does a hell of a lot for no real reason -- is demeaning to people who have actually earned degrees in journalism and have pursued careers in this field.
One more thing: If journalism is now being defined as copying and pasting from Wikipedia, someone had better order a few million press hats for anyone with a Tumblr account.
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Not to say Winchell didn't do his own items but many were delivered to him whole, not just the facts but the actual words.
Caen, from what I gather, took info and tips from outside and wrote them up himself, right? Or did they come in whole?
Anyway, just goes to show, lazy does not always mean inferior. To the contrary.
12/08/09
I'm curious about the time when the writer becomes the brand and others take over the tedious work of composition for them. Fitzgerald in Hollywood and his cups, it was reported, would call on his gofer, a teenager named Billy Warren (a creator of Gunsmoke in his latter days) to put the mess in order. (Of course, Fitzgerald wasn't around to refute Crazy Sundays so it may have been just another episode of résumé padding.)
One of the Trumpettes was in classic company when she signed a contract to deliver a murder mystery and placed a notice for a writer to do it for her. Most, like Palin, are more discreet.
To the best of my memory, Herb Caen strung out items from contributors, and he made no claims of originality. He reported the charge he was merely taking dictation, and never denied it. Seemed he was on perfect terms with the process, as were we all.
12/08/09
Fitzgerlad is interesting, though I thought his Hollywood period was pretty dark; which Trump was that?
Ya, I read Caen when I first moved up here in 94, though if I recall correctly they were already starting to re-run old columns some day (very confusing). He was great. Still unmatched.