The State Of The Media: Look At Me!

“Everyone knows what the Malcolm Gladwell brand is. But what is the Michael Scherer brand?”
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You’re really leading with your chin on that one, Michael.

I think we’d be better off if the Washington press corp was composed of kittens.

I still say that your mountaintop photo says ‘Michael Scherer’ better than any kitten shots. But if you really wanted clickthroughs, you’d have posted the Miss USA lingerie and pole dancing shots.

Anything to get your attention.

Michael Scherer:
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Thanks for the recommend, I look forward to reading all 7,000 words (and paying if it’s worth anything, and I’m allowed to do so in an appropriate manner).
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I read this blog in part because you make recommendations like these. It’s not that I trust or desire your brand, or that it inspires feelings or creates mental associations that cause me to be more likely consume your product, it’s that you are providing actual, demonstrable value.
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The value is in helping me to make informed decisions that may improve my life (sooner or later), as opposed to attempting sophisticated manipulation of my ego so that I and my money are soon parted. Either that, or you’re really superb at taking advantage of my naivete and dull wits.
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(too bad I can’t compensate you for that value directly)

I think this time I’m going to read what you linked to before I comment, just to reward your sincerity. But also, don’t you think you’re going a little easy on Republicans here, comparing them to kittens and all?

Michael, thanks for Tkacik piece and kitten photo. Hot Russian women tennis players will get more links but not make the High Sheriffs hit the fainting couches. No doubt as sites cater / brand to specific groups (from jezebel to cnbc to the swamp) the news can fragment / slant to its specific audience, not all bad (per your tweets).
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It’s easy for us to whine about just reporting the facts already and stay out of the story, but there clearly were Ed Murrow and Walter Cronkite brands …from the quality of their work. No doubt the Karen Tumulty™ brand is far more valuable than the Emily Gould™ one.
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Did Gawker used to literally pay reporters based on page hits? I guess it was more honest than basing ads on page hits and paying indirectly (which of course means complaints here register more cliques, I mean, clicks, and thus help pay for these posts, yes?). But Michael, how would you describe your brand?

I think Gawker still does.

“The kitten photo on this post just to get your attention. That’s how it’s done. If I did it for every post, it could become my brand.”
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FYI, a “brand” is really the general overall impression, often visceral and emotional, that people experience when thinking of a product or service. Visual imagery is one tool for attempting to craft a brand. So, two things: 1) forget the kittens (unless it’s that sniper kittie) it will never work for you and 2) don’t get your marketing instruction from vanity book agents.
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I don’t want the reporter to “stay out of the story.” Get in there and be honest about it and write vividly, too! Just don’t lie to me about your detachment!

I guess the Bristol Palin brand pays well these days. But what’s missing is the David Halberstam brand. There’s a brand I’d pay for.

I would pay serious money for a hard news pulls no punches news service. Too bad that doesn’t exist anywhere.

Kudos to you for opening yourself up to ridicule.

Holy sh*t, Michael Scherer, that was a good piece!
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I’m going to read it again in a couple of hours.

Thanks for the link, MS.

I, for one, strongly recommend you go with the kitteh brand.

It is indeed a great article.
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For me, it’s just another opportunity to remind everyone that the human attantion span is unfortunately not under conscious control. Every time there’s a post about Sarah Palin 30 people post comments claiming that she get’s way too much attention and 12 wingnut’s insist that were all afraid of her awesome power and before you know it, the thread is 200 comments long!
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We can talk at great length about how we want important issues to be discussed and want journalists to actually help us discern the truth from a vapor of lies, but our own eyeballs have other plans. If anything, the internet just empowers us to yield to our baser instincts that much more instantaneously.
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The upside though, is that due to the prevalance of comment threads, there is indeed a two way flow of information.

KITTY!!!!!

(it worked)

I think the upshot of the photo is that you’re all a bunch of pussies.

Dirks:

Every time there’s a post about Sarah Palin 30 people post comments claiming that she get’s way too much attention and 12 wingnut’s insist that were all afraid of her awesome power and before you know it, the thread is 200 comments long!

Have you considered that many Americans think it’s their duty to fight first, ask questions later?
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Given the state of affairs of the country, in which disputes over the existence of climate change, the validity of theories of natural selection, the birthplace and political ideology of the current President, the existence of WMD in Iraq, the effect on state revenues of tax cuts, the efficacy of Keynesian ameliorative spending programs –disputes over objectively knowable reality itself– are widespread amongst the populace, can you really say with certainty that the urge to fight it out derives from our baser selves?
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I personally think that spending one’s civic time and effort incessantly attacking political enemies is less productive than trying to understand (and therefore successfully defeat) them, but I could be an egghead and wrong about that.
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digby, for example, thinks that the Tea Partiers are closer to brownshirts than I do. If her theories are right, and mine are wrong, isn’t it we who are irresponsible for not attacking them every chance we can get, with the aim of destroying the currency of their ideas?
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When, in a stupid post about stupid Sarah Palin, rightists show up to say “Well, at least she’s not an America-hating liberal like all of you!,” don’t we have a responsibility to set the record straight? Isn’t so much of the confusion about who we are in the general public due to rightists yelling un–refuted lies about us?
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Is it really a reflection of our animal selves that people are righteously angry –angry enough to show up and say so?
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Isn’t it our duty to fight, Dirks?

It’s a great piece and what really disturbed me about it is the total lack of meritocracy in the publishing world. Here you have a good writer who had a neat idea “The Nothing Economy” and a decent book idea but she got rejected pretty much for not being already famous enough to sell a book like that. This is the same industry that is publishing a Glenn Beck novel. The same industry that lets Sarah Palin write about the economy. Okay, I won’t just pick on right wingers. Do you all here really believe that what Donna Brazile has to say about policy issues is so much more insightful and important than what commenters around here post every day? Because I don’t. But book publishers and newspapers and magazines do.

It’s pretty putrid. But the media has a role to play in this — you all need to bring more voices into the policy discussions. Haven’t you guys noticed that we commenters very often bring up political topics or suggest political soutions that our politicians aren’t even discussing? And you guys, with whatever access you have, don’t seem to use much of it to ask the questions we’d like answered. I find it odd that people here are so often discussing things that our leaders have already declared “off the table.” But journalism should, to some extent, set the table and it’d be nice if you set it with some of the fine dinnerware that we readers provide you with every day.

Does the whole last part of my post sound like it’s sponsored by Crate & Barrel?

Perhaps it is. (Lord knows I’m as guilty as anyone of what I’m describing)
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My point is that from the perspective of an apolitical financial entity such as a media company, the amount of traffic that posts about her generate, insures that there should be more posts about her. The paradox is that complaints about the attention she receives are examples of the attention she receives. From the standpoint of click-counters, the contents of the reaction are irrelevent.

That was outstanding.
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Thanks for pointing it out MS.

The little kitty picture is precious. Now what were you saying? The media works that way. Attract attention, offer empty news (not in this case MS, just an example) and everybody moves on. Details at 10. Works the other way, too. Rand Paul is asked about his exclusive country club election night venue and he brings up Tiger Woods contribution to the world of golf. Rand Paul should work for local teevee news.

Had an ex-boy friend that would sit and rate news stories Story/Non-story. Usually the non-story won.

The article was worth reading. Thanks. If you want to really capture our attention though, the infamous photo of Paris Hilton getting out of her car is the way to go. It’s kind of cat related.

Excellent commentary. Great piece, MS, thanks for linking to it.

That sounds like an annoying habit. Is that why he’s an ex?

Haha!

When I go to the market, I look for the real thing.
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Articles like this are why I come here, thank you Michael.

“The argument was pretty simple: the American economy had become so enthralled with the endless cultivation and expansion of demand that it had become totally divorced from the reality of need.”

Wars and imprisonment, all without addressing (caring about) root causes immediately spring to mind. Excellent piece. Now, can we have another post about Johnny Mac or Sar-Pal?

Do you all here really believe that what Donna Brazile has to say about policy issues is so much more insightful and important than what commenters around here post every day?
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F*ck no.

That’s the spirit, Stuart!

PD & SZ:
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Ya gotta pick yr fights. Esp. on Thursdays…

Pictures of kittens and video links? Mr. Scherer, are you imitating Andrew Sullivan?

Grow a beard and your journey to the Dark Side will be complete.

Interesting and sad article, thanks for sharing MS. And also thanks for providing a link for single page view.

Politico is a good example of reporters coming together to put out a news blog that probably makes money but is shallow and often misleading. How is this helpful? If good reporters came together and actually did good reporting, I would subscribe. TPM is building that brand but doesn’t give the traditional media the instant, anonymous sourced stories they want.

Thanks for linking to the article MS. I think she is writing about something we have all witnessed in our daily consumption of the “news”.
The traditional media has never been pure: Hearst, Luce…
I don’t think we can expect the internet as a pure source of news. However, if journalists are creative and willing to work hard, they can find a way to bring us information. It doesn’t have to be objective as long as it is true and verifiable. Murrow and his boys weren’t objective but they found a way to bring interesting stories to the public on a new media (radio)who knew they could be trusted.

SZ@11.1:

Have you every considered that many Americans think it’s their duty to fight first, ask questions later?
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Stanley Milgram’s famous and shocking experiments in 1961-62 bears this out. According to Milgram 62.5% of humans will obey authority to the point where it overrides their individual conscience.
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History bears this out as well. Wars have begun time and again because the majority of a given population will be lulled into a trance-like state by authority figures, (Beck, Limbaugh, Palin) especially during times of stress and they begin to dehumanize the enemy. It may seem benign to some, or almost laughable to others, because it sounds so fringy to hear such bizarre lies made by “media entertainers”.
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Digby thinks the Tea Partiers have similarities to the brown shirts. Is she wrong? Whether she is or isn’t it is our right as Americans and for me a moral imperative to dis-spell misrepresentation of a group from whomever generates them, especially when they are dehumanizing in nature.
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Kinda OT. Does Rand Paul wear a hair piece?
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Thank you for posting that link. I love solid writing. Believe it or not, this piece of writing turns out to be the reason I got up this morning. Hmm, it is only 2:30 AM. I hope I don’t have to wait so long tomorrow.
Timbo

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/gary-webbs-parting-sh0t/