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New York, 6:58 AM
Wed Nov 25
49 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/11/09
I failed miserably because:
A) My writing style turned out to be completely wrong for TMZ -- and I kick myself for not adapting and figuring out the managing editor's sense of humor more quickly. At the time I only had scripted (fiction) television experience. If I got the gig today with some "professional entertainment blogging" under my belt I think I'd have done better.
B) There was zero job training -- not even a "here's how to use the software since you've never done news producing before". I got more training at temp receptionist gigs.
C) The "news meeting" at the beginning of the show is totally authentic -- and a cheap way of getting on air talent without paying for it. The blonde surfer dude is crazy hot in person.
D) While there weren't any Columbia journalism grads as far as I know (and some of the people who worked there seemed ultra-sleazy), I came away with a respect for their news gathering. These folks had a huge array of sources covering their beats -- hospital staffers, club doormen, police department employees, as well as paps who hit the clubs every night. While I was there, Paris Hilton's brother got a DUI and everyone worked the phones and covered it like it was Watergate. I was not surprised that they scooped everyone on Michael Jackson's death. If Harvey Levin covered politics or war, he would probably do a better job than the MSM -- but he would sensationalize the hell out of it.
D) Everyone worked their asses off. The work day started at 6AM. It was not a particularly friendly environment. Editors routinely worked 80+ hour weeks. I think Levin worked the hardest.
E) Even though it might have destroyed what's left of my soul, I really wish I'd gotten the job because it would have paid $2000 a week -- a lot more than real journalism. I am not sure if the website paid as well as the TV show.
F) If I had lasted longer, maybe I could have turned the experience into a Devil Wears Prada-esque novel instead of a comment on Gawker. But I doubt it would have had been as insightful as the TMZ Porn that was posted here a few weeks ago.
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09/11/09
Levin seems like a sort of grandiose idiot. Journalism in various forms has been around for hundreds of years. If he thinks that newspapers and magazines are going to vanish because of a dip in the industry, he's grossly, woefully mistaken. The world will always need indepth journalism because the world will always have in it some people who genuinely want knowledge. I think that maybe the world will have less of it now, and medium-gauge journalism will shrink in favour of specialists: of TMZ on the end of the spectrum that covers idiots and the cruel, and on long form journalism.
09/11/09
Regarding this:
After he spoke, Levin was mobbed by perky j-school students eager to give him their resumes. The stereotype of j-school students is that we all enroll with visions of writing ponderous Pulitzer-bait features and breaking Watergate-sized scoops, but in today's job market, it seems like a lot of us would be content writing about reality TV stars.
Honestly, I wouldn't blame the job market on this, nor would I stop at saying that a lot of the students would be "content" with a job like that. My guess is that most of the students that handed their resumes to Mr. Levin probably would have gleefully done so if the job market was good, too. Even if most of them do have dreams of winning a Pulitzer one day, we're still talking about students -- largely in their 20s -- who, in this day and age, probably unwind after class by visiting a gossip blog or watching The Hills.
09/11/09
No, young journalists, quite naturally, want to work somewhere fun and exciting. Whether they admit it to themselves or not, that's part of the tradeoff most of them have settled upon, making less money but having more fun. TMZ gives the impression of being an adventure of a job -- it thumbs its nose at convention, it is growing, it is talked about. There was a time you could say the same thing about, say, Rolling Stone, the Washington Post (sorta!), New York, American Spectator (sorta sorta), CNN, etc. etc. Not so much any more, and there seems to have been an acceleration in the un-funning of certain types of publications.
Even if TMZ isn't one's cup of tea, it's not hard to see the appeal.
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09/11/09
This is nothing new. 10 years ago I took a class in j-school taught by Haynes Johnson, a former Big Swinging Dick of journalism. He asked us what our "dream job" would be and I'd say at least half the class unabashedly said "Entertainment Tonight" or whatever. He was so pissed.
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EDIT: Also, if journalists covering, say, domestic and international political issues pursued the facts about those policies and the people who make them as relentlessly and ruthlessly as the paparazzi pursues Britney Spears and other celebrities, I think American journalism would be in a much better place.
09/11/09
09/11/09
Can't find it now but anyway--it described that whole business as a swamp of immorality, debasement and deceit. These paps and their bosses have zero professional, let alone human, standards-- and one of the "problems" with journalism is that it's a profession that demands you stick to ethical guidelines while chasing a story.
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09/11/09
It's just so sad that the world in that film is supposed to be so far off but if you really think about it, we're just about there already
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09/11/09
The subject matter is simply "whatever sells", and that (hopefully) is not ONLY tragic celebs.
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09/11/09
J-School grads--they're just like us: screwed.
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09/11/09
Still. INNNNERESTING. And, sad.
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09/11/09
Lamer?