Dowd's style—sarcasm, cutsey nicknames, and, most importantly, countless gag-worthy pop cultural references—was, we are expected to believe, revolutionary back when she made the jump from "serious journalist" (whose legendarily/allegedly unorthodox style of story-getting was chronicled in Chris Buckley's book Thank You For Smoking and the film of the same name as the star reporter character who fucks sources) to influential columnist, back in 1995. She won the Pulitzer in 1999, and is as responsible as anyone else at a major newspaper for framing the old narrative of the 2000: unlikable wonky smug technocrat fabulist Al Gore vs. genial idiot George W. Bush.

By 2004, she'd become one of the rising liberal blogosphere's prime targets for mockery. And her style was easy to parody. (Have you ever noticed how Sex & the City might conceivably relate to politics? It writes itself!)

By the time of the inescapable publicity circus for her book Are Men Necessary in 2005 (the Observer called it "a very odd, occasionally entertaining mish-mash of politics and sex, biology and Cosmopolitan-ology, gravity and wit, insight and carelessness" which seems pretty accurate), well, we all just got sick of her. But it wasn't just the book. There were other problems!

First: "hip" writing about politics? Making pop culture funnies about candidates? Maybe revolutionary in the satire-deprived mid-90s, but then came blogs! (And also The Onion, The Daily Show, and The 9/11 Commission Report, obv.) Blogs did it funnier, faster, wittier, and hipper than Maureen could. (Seriously, her pop culture references sound strained to everyone but 80-year-old shut-ins who secretly titter while dropping their monocles at Don Imus wisecracks—which is to say, the media population of Washington DC) There was this lady named Ana Marie Cox whom this guy named Nick Denton hired to run his brand-new politics blog—she turned out to be the funny Maureen Dowd! Plus Cox wrote about assfucking.

But maybe more importantly, Dowd was fucked by her bosses. Timesselect put her column behind a paywall. Bloggers stopped linking, reading, explicating, and damning it. Dowd recognized the effect this could have on her waning influence: by some accounts she "boycotted" the extra features promised subscribers. But as the great experiment dragged on, she faded into internet obscurity, more or less. The paywall went up in 2005, after the heady Dowd-hating days of the '04 elections had ended. By the time they lifted it, two years later, no one quite remembered why they got so upset when the crazy red-haired lady called their candidate a pussy.

Generation Q [NYT]

The TimesSelect Effect [Odd Numbers]

From: NYTimes. com
Subject: Important Notice About TimesSelect

Dear TimesSelect Subscriber,

We are ending TimesSelect, effective today.

The Times's Op-Ed and news columns are now available free of charge, along with Times File and News Tracker. In addition, The New York Times online Archive is now free back to 1987 for all of our readers.

Why the change?

Since we launched TimesSelect, the Web has evolved into an increasingly open environment. Readers find more news in a greater number of places and interact with it in more meaningful ways. This decision enhances the free flow of New York Times reporting and analysis around the world. It will enable everyone, everywhere to read our news and opinion - as well as to share it, link to it and comment on it.

Beginning today, we will issue refunds to our TimesSelect customers for the unused portion of their subscriptions. (The refund may take a few weeks to appear on your credit card, so please be patient.) If you need to update your billing information, please click here:

https://select.nytimes.com/commerce/jsp/purchase_history.jsp

To thank you for your loyalty, we are offering you complimentary access to Times Reader from now through December 31, 2007. Times Reader is a digital version of The New York Times that looks just like the print version. It is normally offered for $169 annually, and is free to home delivery subscribers. (Please note that Times Reader is available for Windows only, though a version for Macintosh is planned.) For the duration of this complimentary offer, you also have access to our Premium Crosswords as well as the full online Archive, back to 1851. To download Times Reader, click here:

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/timesreader.html

We thank you for your support of TimesSelect, and hope you continue to enjoy The New York Times in all its electronic and print forms.

For more information, including answers to frequently asked questions, click here:

http://www.nytimes.com/marketing/ts

To contact Customer Service, please send an e-mail to ordercs@nytimes.com.

Sincerely,

Vivian Schiller
Senior Vice President & General Manager
NYTimes.com
________________________________________________________________________
ABOUT THIS E-MAIL

This is a one-time e-mail about your subscription to TimesSelect.

NYTimes.com
620 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10018

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

Ad revenue for the New York Times Media Group decreased 2.9 percent from July 2006—which is actually not bad. Take the New England Media Group, where apparently the Nordstrom and Neiman-Marcus in the Natick Mall have yet to open and save the world: Ad revenues are down 4.9 percent compared to last July. The bad news came from the Regional Media Group, whose ad revenues are down a cringe-worthy 10.9 percent, "mainly because of softness in home furnishing, home improvement and department store advertising. Classified advertising revenues decreased due to weakness in real estate, help-wanted and automotive advertising." Hi, Craigslist!

All of those numbers are marginally better than the June results, when the Times was down 3 percent, the New England Media Group was down 11.8 percent, and the Regional Media Group was down 12.2 percent.

The bright spot, as always, is Internet revenue, which grew 19.3 percent over last July. But while impressive, the rate of Internet growth is also slowing. In the second quarter, Internet revenue grew 23.4 percent; in June, Internet revenues were up 22 percent over last year.

We assume that a lot of that growth came from the About Group, whose ad revenues rose 34.7 percent in July (About's ad revenues are bundled into the calculations for the Internet group, but also broken out separately, presumably because they're a spot of good news). It seems that as the months go by, the company is looking for other, mostly online-based, ways to make money to support its sinking newspaper business. Bill Keller doesn't work for free, ya know! But now his salary is being paid by stuff like "What Not to Play At Your Wedding."

New York Times Company: Press Releases [NYT Co.]

And for every blog and essayist, it seems, there's an editor: George Kalogerakis, Mary Duenwald, Carla Anne Robbins, and David Shipley all have new roles. Shipley in particular has a well-defined mission that highlights the Times' fine grasp of this emerging online medium: "David's been given a big mandate to do Internet stuff," says Rosenthal. Well welcome!

But what of the regular OpEd columnists, who were so famously resistant to being walled off during the initial imposition of TimesSelect under Rosenthal's predecessor Gail Collins? Collins, soon to resume columnist duties, can finally see the other side of it: "I'm in that grumpy-but-understanding state the columnists were in," she says. But hey! More and bigger!

Even though TimesSelect is a failure by almost every metric, even though the pay-for-content model reeks of Web 0.5, even though it's shockingly inferior to almost any advertising-based revenue plan, even though it might actually be worse than Salon's SitePass, the paper plans to continue its surge, consequences be damned.

Finally, a small note of clarification. Rosenthal claims that Gawker "insists it never reads TimesSelect." Not true! We never said we don't read TimesSelect. We just said that we think it's a horrible, hideous idea. —balk

Times' Rosenthal Is Glutton For Opinion [NYO]

• Hey, ladies, Sheryl Crow reads the Wall Street Journal. Shouldn't you? [NYT]
  
• Is Rebecca Dana going to the Times or is she staying at the Observer? [B&C]
  
• "If the Times Co. planned to unload the Globe, they'd have done it before telling the world the paper wasn't actually worth all that much." [Boston Phoenix]
  
• More Bartiromo analysis: If you let women into the financial services industry, of course guys are gonna try and fuck them. [MarketWatch]
  

• TimesSelect will work until its current subscribers die, at which point there'll be no one left who has ever read it. [MediaPost]
  
• The Tribune sale is never, ever, ever going to end. [AP]
  
• Nikki Finke's no Dean Baquet fan. [LAWeekly]
  
• Rupert Murdoch is a driven professional newspaper man. Also, evil. [Forbes]
  
• "Insiders" are "abuzz" about the "complete diss" of "some guy" who didn't get an award at his company's picnic. [WWD]
  
• Former Italian P.M. Silvio Berlusconi likes the ladies; is sorry for liking the ladies. [Guardian]

"Johnson is currently spending a month writing for TimesSelect, an online commentary service of The Times."

UPDATE: Hey look, here's a shiny advertising check buying all these banner ads today for this very promotion, right here on Gawker. To reiterate: Go read those op-eds! And consider purchasing an excellent Philips consumer electronics product. Drive carefully now.

TimesSelect Holds an Open House [Ad Age]

Somehow, Bucky got logged onto the NYT website as user "dinyah" with a non-functioning Binghamton University email address. He was able to cancel the mystery account. but not before checking out the user's reading habits and accessing all the David Brooks a boy could ever want.

TimesSelect Not So Selective [Animal New York]

Update: A reader writes in:

I was weirded out to read about Bucky Turco's dinyah experience....I had the same one. I went to the NYT site on my home laptop - I check it at least twice a day from home — and found myself already logged in as 'dinyah.' I just logged out immediately, freaked out that someone had hacked into my (trial) TimesSelect account.
But this makes me wonder...could 'dinyah' be a bug? A virus? A ruse? I know the word 'dinyah' means "world" in Arabic.

That's actually pretty damned interesting. We were curious: How has the paper changed over time? A quick trip through the archives reveals that some things never change. Here's the lede on Lincoln's delivery of the Gettysburg Address:

President Lincoln returned today for a sentimental journey to the battlefield where he didn't inhale, didn't get drafted and didn't salute the troops. The last got rectified after a reception marked with the respect and perfect silence due to the solemnity of the occasion, every man in the immense gathering uncovering on his appearance.

The New York Times Archive Dating Back to 1851 Now Available Online [Yahoo]
THE HEROES OF JULY.; A Solemn and Imposing Event. Dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburgh. IMMENSE NUMBERS OF VISITORS. Oration by Hon. Edward Everett—Speeches of President Lincoln, Mr. Seward and Governor Seymour. THE PROGRAMME SUCCESSFULLY CARRIED OUT. [NYT]
Oxford Journal; Whereas, He Is an Old Boy, If a Young Chief, Honor Him [NYT]

And for this, you paid $49.95.

From Tinseltown to Splitsville: Just Do the Math [NYT (sub. req'd)]

At the dorkalicious Webby awards last night, Fishbowl NY accosted Times columnist Thomas Friedman for a quick interview. In regards to his column being hidden behind the Berlin wall of TimesSelect, Friedman says, "I hate it. It pains me enormously." On the bright side, he reminds us, he can still hop on a plane and travel to whatever far-fetched place he fancies, and the Gray Lady will have to foot the bill (suckers). But as he chuckles his way through telling of how it nonetheless hurts to lose readers in Hungary, we can't help but think one thing: how long until Friedman and Frank Rich have a jolly-off?

Why NYT's Thomas Friedman Hates TimesSelect [FishbowlNY]

Ooh! That sounds fun! Let's all tell Tom Friedman what we think. We'll go first. Tom, we think...

• David Remnick has really made The New Yorker better, but sometimes a little boring.
• Brad Pitt is a jerk.
• Charlie Rose is full of shit.
• Jack Bauer is the greatest American ever.
• Ben Roethlisberger is kinda cute.
• It's beautifully sunny today
• A bit warmer would be nice, too.
• The Colbert Report is overrated.
• We probably ought to drink less.
• Nick Kristof should grow a moustache, too.
• It would be swell to have a pony.

Now your turn. Comment away...

Tommy, I think about sex. A lot. [Copyranter]

(Now, one feels like a bit of a jackass for saying, "Hey, look what I just discovered," when one just made his discovery on the NYTimes.com homepage, of all places, but, still bear with us.)

We've just discovered The Opinionator!

It seems the Times's newfound blogging bug has carpetbagged itself all the way to the op-ed page, under the aegis of which Chris Suellentrop is now blogging about news, politics, and opinions. Fulltime. With comments.

It's almost like, you know, a real blog!

We're not quite sure what the Times's publicity plan for this new project is — there's a link from the homepage, but no press release, nothing in the print paper, and, so far, only one hit each in Nexis and on Technorati. But, still, it's certainly an exciting day for all of us — not least in the Suellentrop household, where young Chris, a Slate vet, now gets to rub elbows, electronically, at least, with the likes of Rich and Friedman and Dowd and Krugman.

Plus, this new addition is sure to be a boon to the fortunes of the TimesSelect program, of which you must be a member to read The Opinionator.

Because God knows it's impossible to find discussions of politics on the web for free.

UPDATE: After the jump, Suellentrop's email to friends, which contains not just one but two analogies to Time Inc. marketing swag.

The Opinionator [NYT]

From: Chris Suellentrop
To: Christopher Michael Suellentrop
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 2:53 PM
Subject: Chris Suellentrop's new gig

Dear friends, family, colleagues, and near strangers with whom I've exchanged one e-mail,

The New York Times has a new blog, "The Opinionator," written by yours truly. It's on Times Select, so if you've been thinking, "Hey, those New York Times columnists are worth only $48.50 a year," I'm here to provide the extra $1.45 in annual value to meet your demand curve. If you're already a Times or Times Select subscriber (all Times subscribers get Times Select for free), think of The Opinionator as the free shoephone that Sports Illustrated used to hand out with its paid subscriptions. It's the "but-wait-there's-more" product, the journalism equivalent of that special bonus CD of classic country duets that Time-Life gave you when you bought their '70s funk anthology.

Set your bookmarks (or favorites, as the case may be) to: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com.

Impersonally but at least briefly,

Chris

—
Chris Suellentrop
www.suellentrop.com
202 460 XXXX
xxxx@gmail.com

Hint: It's not Bob Herbert.

A Night to See the Stars Actually Wearing Clothes [NYT]

Like today's 8-page offering on the wonders of TimesSelect. Discover its power! Unleash its benefits! And, our favorite part, see what bells and whistles you'll receive from the paper's famous op-ed columnists. Like:

• [Nick] Kristof shares his well-traveled perspective in his column, Web journal and regular multimedia features.
• Read profiles of the people [Bob Herbert] admires most and nominate someone you know as a "Herbert's Hero."
• Visit [Tom Friedman's] page in TimesSelect to join "Talking World Affairs," a discussion group with readers.
• In [David Brooks's] "The Way We Live Now," readers debate recent issues like women in the workforce and youth culture.
• Join readers in a discussion of topics [Paul Krugman] covers in "Money Talks."
• Readers join the dialogue in "Everyone's a Critic" to discuss provactive questions posed by [Frank Rich].
• Readers can share their questions and comments with [John Tierney] for increased interaction.
• Read [Maureen Dowd's] responses to her readers' questions about her book "Are Men Necessary: When Sexes Collide."

Because, while all the other op-edsters are running ongoing online features, you'll take your one, self-promotional extra from Maureen Dowd, and you'll like it, dammit.

Otherwise you're a sexist.

TimesSelect [NYT]

NYT Registration
[Courtesy of MB]

Happy Halloween, kids.

[Bigger pictures after the jump.]

THE NEW YORK TIMES SELECT: Until recently, one the things that dulled the pain of working a corporate desk job was being able to read The New York Times online and free of charge, particularly their Op-Ed section. Bob Herbert's righteous outrage at the shabby treatment of America's working class or Paul Krugman's latest intellectual bitch-slapping of the Bush administration makes for good reading any time. Recently though, all the news that's fit to print will now cost you, as the Times is charging money for people to read their more popular articles online. Advertisements promise "exclusive online access" to Times columnists. Will Thomas Friedman call us to chat about the wonders of globalization? Will Maureen Dowd give us our own obnoxious nicknames? Doubtful. The Old Gray Lady has become a money-grubbing harpy. D-

The Black List [Black Table]

Despite promises from the newspaper that each of its high-profile columnists—now hidden behind a pay wall on the Web—would provide bonus content and services at the site, Dowd so far has offered nothing original, beyond her twice-weekly print column.

This stands in stark contrast to her colleagues, Frank Rich, Bob Herbert, Thomas Friedman, David Brooks, Paul Krugman, Nicholas Kristof, and John Tierney.

Dowd is "rumored" to think, like most bloggers, that the whole TimesSelect thing seems to limit the audience and influence of once-powerful Times columnists.

So those of you unwilling to pay for your Dowd fix can rest assured that you're not missing those Nerve Personals-ish extra features all the other guys are doing ("Poll: What zeitgeisty tv show should I next compare with the Bush administration?").

Is Maureen Dowd Boycotting TimesSelect? [E&P]

1. Awake from uneasy dreams on day two of TimesSelect; assume world's greatest, richest, most awesomest, we-can-charge-for-whatever-we-want newspaper has fixed all kinks in its big-deal new premium content system.

2. Go to NYTimes.com and click on "Tierney: FEMA to WEMA" in an attempt to learn about John Tierney's presumed neologism, WEMA. Prepare to laugh ruefully, libertarianly.

3. Get warning screen, "To continue reading this article, you must be a subscriber to TimesSelect." Assume anticipatory pre-registration, filled out last week, simply did not go through.

4. Follow options for home subscriber to get free TimesSelect access. Enter email address and password.

5. Wait for a disconcertingly long time while system pulls up record.

6. Be told, "You already have TimesSelect. You have been identified as a Home Delivery subscriber who is currently enrolled in TimesSelect. You cannot enroll again."

7. Realize goody-two-shoes pre-registration did go through. Follow link to homepage, ready to read about WEMA.

8. Repeat steps 2 through 6.

9. Sigh.

10. Get up, walk to front door, pick up print paper from hallway.

11. Flip to A29.

12. Curse Martin Nisenholtz.

Earlier:
TimesSelect: Okay They Actually Do Want It to Fail
TimesSelect: It's Like They Want It to Fail

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

autumn dreams
i didn't wake up until noon today, which sucks, cause i was supposed to go to lunch with jenny 8... oh well. she'll prolly get over it, but i can't reschedule for tomorrow cause i'm supposed to visit judy and i have to get there before keller — he just talks and talks until visiting hours are over. doesn't matter that much, i guess. i'm jsut visiting cause everyone else is. i never really know what to say to judy. but i should go cause i have to write a column about a transportation bill or something.

man oh man, i love the new sufjan stevens (sp?) album *soooo* fucking much..
current mood: sleepy
posted by: jtierney 9/28/05 12:45:06 PM

arrrggghh
god i hate barney calame so so so so so so much he thinks he's so smart.

i can't really talk about it right now.
current mood: mad
listening to: joni
posted by: krug-man04 9/28/05 11:15:34 AM

TimesSelect, the New Premium Online Offering from The New York Times, Debuts Today [NYT Co]