By Christopher B. Daly.
What has become of the New York Times‘ media beat? A year ago, the Times had a strong claim to be the single most important source of original reporting about journalism and other media issues. Today, in the Monday Business section of the print edition, not a single story. The obvious reason is the death six months ago of David Carr, the paper’s pre-eminent media reporter/columnist. But that was a long ago in media terms, and the paper shows no sign of recovering its mojo. I have heard that there is a search underway with a small number of finalists. There has been some speculation in other venues, but little indication from the Timesthat the paper has a commitment to regaining the leadership in covering its own industry. It will take more than a single high-profile hire, too. To make it work, the paper needs a full-fledged “desk” with an editor, a team of reporters (to compensate for the loss of Brian Stelter in late 2013), and a high-impact columnist.
–One thing you never want to hear on the other end of your telephone line: “Hi, this is Mark Fainaru-Wada, and I have a couple of questions for you . . .” Here is his investigation into Hope Solo, the 33-year-old goalkeeper of the U.S. women’s World Cup soccer team. It sounds like she was one hot mess that night. (Among other things, ESPN‘s Fainaru-Wada was one of the reporters at the SF Chronicle who broke the BALCO steroids scandal.)
–Speaking of ESPN, does anyone doubt that there’s more to come on the Friday afternoonsacking of Jason Whitlock as founding editor of The Undefeated? I’d like to hear it straight from Whitlock himself. Hmmm. . .
—Gawker, a pioneer in digital journalism, is making news itself. First, there was the startling vote by the hamsters who churn out all that clickbait to form a labor union. As a former union member (The Wire Service Guild) and a sometime labor historian (Like A Family) myself, I say welcome to the movement that brought us all the weekend.
Then, the Times weighed in last Friday (in a pieceunder the standing head MEDIA) about Gawker founder and editor in chief Nick Denton. After a fairly labored lead about Denton smoking a joint on a fire escape with his husband, the Timespiece (by Jonathan Mahler — a possible candidate for for taking over the Media Equation column?) observes the phenomenal growth of Gawker:
Mr. Denton started Gawker Media 12 years ago in his living room. It was initially just two blogs, the snarky — though the term was not yet in popular usage — media gossip site Gawker, and a technology blog,Gizmodo. The company had two freelance bloggers who were paid $12 per post.
Today, Gawker Media encompasses seven sites with 260 full-time employees. There’s the sports blog Deadspin — noteworthy journalistic coups include an investigative article revealing that the football star Manti Te’o had an imaginary girlfriend and the publication of photos said to show Brett Favre’s penis — and the feminist siteJezebel. For technology, there’s Gizmodo. For video gamers, there’s Kotaku. Mr. Denton’s personal favorite is Lifehacker, Gawker’s take on self-help.
By most measures, the company is doing fine. Gawker Media says it generated about $45 million in advertising revenue last year, and was profitable, earning about $7 million.
What could go wrong? Well, for one thing: a $100 million invasion-of-privacy lawsuit pending against Gawker by former wrestler Hulk Hogan. No surprise: Hogan was not happy whenGawker posted a sex tape of Hogan.
The whole piece is worth reading, for its exploration of whether Gawker is capable of maturing as a news source and how it plans to relate to social media.
–A hat tip to the Times‘ public editor, Margaret Sullivan for calling bullshit on the paper over its recent mania over a silly book by Wednesday Martin about the folkways of the wealthy residents of the UES.
It all began, reasonably enough, with a Sunday Review cover story last month by Ms. Martin, in which she told of her experience moving to Manhattan’s Upper East Side and the strange beings she found there — women who were (gasp) blonde, wealthy and fit.
But then, The Times’s overkill machine geared up and began to churn out one article after another: a review of the book, another review of the book, a column about the book, and an inside look at the column about the book, a blog post about the book, and a review of a similar television series with a prominent mention of the book. Then, to finish up (well, one can always hope), there was anews article about the book’s departures from reality and its publisher’s plans to add a disclaimer for future editions.
‘Nuf said.
–The ever-helpful “On the Media” NPR program has a really helpful guide to filming the police in public places. Don’t miss: the ACLU app that makes sure your video of the cops survives even if they confiscate your phone.
–This just in: from today’s Washington Post, hereis media reporter Paul Farhi’s latest offering — atour d’horizon of the digital journalism world. Not a very pretty picture.
