April 2010
11 posts
“[I]t’s a bit odd when someone says they deserve to get paid so much because they answer their BlackBerry at 2 a.m. and the guy at my convenience store doesn’t get to go home until his shift ends at 3:30 a.m. People on Wall Street work very hard and they feel they chose this path because there was a reward promised to them. And now, when it’s being taken away from them, they get very angry. If the reward hadn’t been offered to them, they feel they would’ve followed their passion and become a journalist or something.”
—Washington Post’s Ezra Klein interviews a former Wall Street recruit.
“Using the platform to complain about the platform.” Meta!
One thing that’s worse than not shaking shit up at all is trying to shake shit up in a manner that is displeasing to me, personally. Ex.: “The Ignorant White Guy Who Tries To Make An Offensive Point,” the chump who created the very platform on which I’m writing this.
Et cetera, et cetera.
Happy people are boring. Happy people blog less. Happy people start a new post, write three sentences and then say “eh, whatever” and hit cancel.
Seriously! I can’t even muster up a dramatic JA styles goodbye letter.
I’m thisclose to being over Tumblr. Isn’t there a next new thing yet?! We’ve gotta shake shit up. Join me in shaking shit up!
But how?
Indecision.
Hey NYC, what’s more crowded today: the High Line or the nearest Apple store?
"Forget neutral — create a new identity"
squashed wrote:
This is Michael Calderone of Politico’s advice for CNN. In the past, I’ve been nearly as critical of CNN as I have been of Politico. He thinks that CNN should jettison its past efforts at objectivity and become another MSNBC or Fox.
What a horrible suggestion. CNN sometimes fails at its objectivity—but at least it tries. Would striving to be a network of partisan hacks be profitable? Maybe. If they don’t consider themselves journalists. But if they only care about profit, shouldn’t they choose a different industry?
“Forget news — become a bank.”
Calderone’s sole reason for existing at Politico is to think things like that. And I can understand how CNN’s approach to reporting news in as objective a manner as possible is infuriating to other outlets that don’t even bother faking it. Maintaining a high degree of objectivity is hard, and it’s rarely profitable. It’s more of a service than it is a business model. And how exactly does Calderone’s opinion column get filed under “news” on Politico in the first place?
Fortunately, I expect the brass at CNN are too busy trying to report objectively to put much thought behind what Calderone and his ilk are writing. The network isn’t going away anytime soon.
“Due to high demand, please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.”
—Health Reform is a BFD t-shirt. Proceeds go to the DNC.
