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Pondering the End Game of the Changing Nature of Online Media
Remember the dotcom bubble? Remember the metrics that largely drove
the ridiculous valuations of those firms? Things like pageviews,
clickthroughs, etc. Remember how all that worked out?
Now, every web media outlet is rushing to get on the Search Engine
Optimization train, hell, even former stalwarts of the 4th estate are
constantly more engaged in a race to the bottom (line, or so they
think). Information that would traditionally be presented within an
article as bullet points is now displayed in annoying slide shows to
drive up page views, ad impression, etc. Everyone's doing everything
they can to drive up their metrics, but they're not using the right
ones the right way, and advertisers, shareholders, and ad agencies all
seem like they were in a deep, deep coma during the dotcom boom/bust.
Oh, and don't even get me started about Demand Media.
These trends are scary, and unfortunately only seem to be picking up steam. In this author's humble opinion, one
of THE most important purposes of journalism is to make people aware of
things about which they didn't already know, and more importantly,
things they didn't know they wanted to know about.
A while back I wrote a piece that the SEC's Division of Financial
Innovation, Risk, and Strategy has, since inception, a vacancy in the
Office of Data Analysis, namely, the head of the Office (whether
there's ANY staff in the office is still a question). Very, very few
people care about the details of and the goings-on in our financial
regulatory apparatus and the reform thereof. It's pretty dry/boring -
I get it - but in my opinion, most journalists and their editors
largely do a pretty crappy job explaining to readers why its so
important and why they need to care.
The main-stream Financial media (and some blogs) spend so much time
and effort painting a Wall Street v. Main Street picture, hating on the
banks and their various wrongdoings, but these so-called wrongdoings
happened under the so-called watchful eye of the regulators. You can't
paint one group as the villain when the other was complicit!
My post about the lack of resources at the SEC didn't get very many
views, under a thousand if memory serves correctly. I'm 100% certain
not a single MSM Financial Media outlet read it and decided it was
worth sharing with their readership.
So, while tens if not hundreds of thousands of people care about a garbage column from Gretchen Morgenson
about how the evil banksters at Goldman caused Greece's financial
troubles by getting them involved in CDS (at issue were FX Swaps, but
facts have no place in the annals of history, apparently), a column
that was so obviously and painfully wrong in so many ways, but no one
cares that the department at the SEC tasked with staying on-top of Wall
Street's shenanigans has NO DATA ANALYSIS DEPARTMENT HEAD? Are you
freaking kidding me?!?
Those running the web-sites of the MSM - best exemplified by the
likes of Demand Media and the SEO-worshippers - think SEO etc is the
holy grail, the saving grace of a slowly-dying and desperate industry:
If you know what people are wondering about, you can (try to) make your
content the first thing they read, and you want to make sure that when
people search for content, they find yours. The problem is
that these approaches eschew that one fundamental purpose of journalism
I mentioned earlier; to inform people of things they didn't know they
wanted to know.
Because outlets like the NYT (not that they're alone in this
practice, not hardly) have made such an extended and targeted effort to
paint the "banksters" and the financial services industry as a whole as
evil, selfish, greedy bastards out to get rich regardless of the
consequences of their actions, most people have largely come to believe
such half-truths. Perhaps the worst part of the NYT's (etc) populist
pandering is that they represent themselves as having "the greatest
journalism in the world" and just like Fox News, claim to be fair and
balanced.
Gimme a freaking break! Both the liberal and conservative
Main-Stream Financial media is (with few exceptions, e.g. FT Alphaville
and a small handful of smart, dedicated journalists) about as fair and
balanced as a bout between myself and Mike Tyson in his prime.
If these outlets were really interested in being fair and balanced
they'd tell the whole story, and they'd tell it right. Unfortunately,
much of the time, not only do they only tell (the) part of the story
they hope will generate the most pageviews, emails, retweets, facebook
status updates, etc, but in so doing, constantly mangle,
manipulate, and totally ignore relevant facts altogether!
At least Demand Media is upfront about what they're trying to do and
how they go about doing it, which is less than I can say for outlets
like the NYT and many others. In fairness, some "content farms" and
even blogs written by financial/legal/etc professionals are sometimes
guilty of the same things as the MSM (*ahem* Naked Capitalism *ahem*).
The handful or two of journalists with whom I speak on a regular
basis are aware - to varying degrees - of these trends, and are not
very happy that "the powers that be" to whom they answer don't
understand the unenviable position in which they're putting their
staff. Nor do these "powers" seem to understand the longer-term
implications of their short-sighted business and editorial decisions.
I can guarantee the trends we're seeing now - the shift towards
creating content likely to get the most pageviews etc - instead of
creating content that The Public needs to know about, will end in
tears. I fear the brunt of these tears will most likely be from the
journalists (and those aspiring to become ones) whose jobs are slowly
being replaced by a growing cadre of free or very-poorly compensated
bloggers, syndicated content, etc.
I expect the brain-trusts making these short-sighted business and
editorial decisions will eventually realize - probably not until after
it's too late - the possibly irreversible damage they've done to the
news and journalism industry. If these trends continue, everyone will
suffer and we'll move that much closer to the idiocracy I fear I may
see within my lifetime.
There is a possibility - albeit a small one - that SEO and
demand-driven content will increase media revenues enough that they can
afford to maintain their own journalism operations (while fostering
relationships with people like us financial pros who create our own
content). It's possible, but even if that ends up being the case,
newsrooms are still going to shrink, content is going to be even more
dumbed-down than it already is (ugh), and stories that change
industries, countries, and the world are going to become ever-more few
& far between.
I am not exactly the biggest fan of current or even traditional
"journalism," but compared to the crap we're seeing and the crappier
crap we're going to see if things keep going as they are, I'll take
traditional journalism any day!
Let's just hope my fears are unwarranted, for everyone's sake...
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I'm shocked, you've ONLY just discovered this!!!! Good God, how old are you and where were you educated??? Does anybody remember the term "Yellow Journalism" circa 1890???? Ever read any stories about Pulitzer and Hearst? How about the Spanish American War or better yet have you watched "Citizen Kane"????
By the way, do a little homework and find out how much Pulitzer and Hearst paid their "reporters"!!! lolololol
1895-98:
Yellow media mogul and Nazi mouthpiece-to-be William Randolph Hearst and yellow media tycoon Joseph Pulizter engage in a contest to see which man can reduce American journalistic standards to the lowest possible level.
A mixture of exaggeration, outright lies and fabrications, jingoistic nonsense, xenophobia and sensationalism, so-called "yellow journalism", apparently sells newspapers in the U.S. and Hearst and Pulitzer strive to outdo each other in their race to the sewers.
The two newspaper barons play the major role in "manufacturing consent" by manipulating the U.S. public before and during the long-planned war which led to the U.S. invasions of Cuba, the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico.
In disneyland America, Pulitzer, who plumbed the depths of sleazy and dishonest publishing, will ultimately be remembered only for the Pulitzer Prize, ironically intended as a recognition of quality journalism.
In the midst of countless hostile actions, the destruction of the Cuban economy and an ongoing, vitriolic propaganda campaign by the U.S. against Spain, the USS Maine enters Havana Harbor on the patently absurd pretext of it being, in the words of the grotesque U.S. consul in Havana, a “friendly act of courtesy”.
The secondary pretext, of protecting Americans in Cuba, is equally absurd as Frederic Remington pointed out.
Remington, an illustrator for the Hearst newspapers, the key element in the propaganda campaign preparing the U.S. public for the long-planned U.S. invasion of Cuba, sends a cable to Hearst telling him that, contrary to the hysterical tales being invented and carried in the Hearst papers, “all is quiet” in Cuba and asks for permission to return to the U.S.
Hearst sends Remington a cable saying,...
“Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”
On cue and as though by magic, (Damn!... Santa Osama and his Jihadist band of 19 magic elves are not even born yet), the USS Maine oh-so-conveniently blows up in Havana Harbor, resulting in the death of two hundred and sixty six U.S. sailors. By a fabulous stroke of luck, of the two hundred and sixty six corpses, only two belong to officers and to junior officers at that. Enlisted men were barred from going ashore. Officers were not.
By another fabulous stroke of luck, the U.S. has, since 1894, been beavering away planning for a full scale war against Spain and the seizure of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.(PNAC)
The blowing up of the USS Maine (9/11) is the starting whistle.
The “act of terrorism” is, of course, immediately blamed on the Spanish (Arabs) who, self-evidently, had absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose by blowing up the Maine.
A massive and hysterical propaganda campaign in the U.S. mass media, largely owned by Hearst and his fellow media slut, Pulitzer, whips the American public, who have already been well prepared by several years of vicious anti-Spanish (Arab) propaganda, into a mindless war frenzy.
No Conspiracy here either!
I've not only seen Citizen kane (about a dozen times), but chances are I'm better educated than you. Keep hating baby, you're just driving up our stats!
journalism? you mean reading the teleprompter?
the game is control of the human mind. worthless currency used by some algorithmic scientific mind control entity, funding military corporate intelligence full spectrum dominatrix plan, might i dare say will lead to some weird inhuman results?...
fuk.
The NYT pandering to populism? News to me.
Beyond that, I don't see the problem. Demand-driven content will simply marginalize the providers - in intellectual terms if not market share. No one with any sense watches tv anymore, anyway.
The people who want to know, will know - through sites like this one, for example. And Naked Capitalism. And Tom Ricks over at Best Defense. And Juan Cole's troublesome informed commentary. And Dr. Housing Bubble.
Those who don't, won't.
I'd agree with you but Naked Capitalism panders just as much as the NYT, Yves & Company just use bigger words to mask their bias.
i used to read yves, but i don't have as much time as i did then. would you please elaborate on your criticism of naked capitalism? i'm not disagreeing, just would like it spelled out a bit more. thanks.
1909:
"The Machine Stops" E.M.Forster... a futurist world where people are mesmerized by virtual reality... DYSTOPIA.
Humans live in isolated, tiny subterranean rooms, hives, where they are captivated by instant messages and 'cinematophoes'... machines that project visual images.
..........................................................
The basement dwelling, office-cube trapped, lap-top-packing, I-Phony, Black-Bury, Blue-Toothed, "toot it and boot it" masses... cutting themselves off from the external world and are absorbed by the bizarre pseudo-reality of voices, sounds, and images... abstract sensations that can be evoked by a few mouse clicks or button pushes.
The world of the Machine has replaced the Real World with a virtual world... an omniscient, internalized and impersonal voice has seduced and enslaved. A Schizophrenic Technology, hijacked and owned by mega-rich slave masters has enslaved human ingenuity.
They use the newest technologies to keep us impoverished, confused about our identity, and PASSIVE... the latest and greatest instrument of control... serving those who control it.
Those who control it today are destroying nations, economies, journalism, culture, and art while they herd the population into incestuous tribes and virtual clans that fuel personal isolation, self-delusion, social intolerance, and political hatred.
Programming to the LCD, which started many decades ago, was bound to create a downward spiral in the average intelligence of both the media and viewership...
We can thank the media programming geniuses for this downward spiral..
Is there a single industry that isn't guilty of engaging in short-term behavior at the expense of long-term stability? I certainly agree re: media catering to the least common denominator. It's not just income that's growing increasingly unequal, it's intellect/intellectual curiosity, knowledge, etc.
Stone,
Been in online ad industry since the beginning. Made lots of $$. You are 1000% correct vis-a-vis the intellect gap. America has become the land of LCD. That's why the measure of quality in eyeballs is irrelevant: they are all stupid, it's just a question of degree.
If you run a web site, why pay more $$ for content when the people viewing it can't tell the difference?
I've been in online media for 12 years. In my spare time I read you guys and try to figure out your dismal science -:)
Back in the day, you could be any kind of website you wanted and you could trade content, traffic. Some even traded ad deals...and almost went to jail. Now that its become more mature and competitive you can't do most of that so now we have the rise of SEO and PVs and anything that will get the job done as hundreds of sites compete for eyeballs and $$ in a splintered market.
I wager that in a few years there will be more profitable websites who can afford to pay for quality journalism but my friend, the days of high paying jobs in media, all sorts of jobs, are over just as they are over in other industries where the digital beast has ravaged the forests and you now have roving bands of hungry tribes fighting for turf and a subsistence life. Cheer up
Yup, # of jobs and salary for (many) of them in the news/media/journalism industries have and will continue to drop. Compare the way in which this happened/is happening to how it did in US Manfacturing. Routine jobs were automated, technology improvements increased worker productivity. In (online) media, the advent of blogging gave everyman the ability to get his/her ideas out there, and gave those out to make a name for themselves the ability to do so...over a long time, and even then, for most, only after publishing ALOT of good stuff for free. This, combined with the wires oursourcing basic stuff to India (etc) has rendered many formerly "necessary" jobs in the industry, well, no longer needed.
My early points about using pageviews, SEO, meta-tagging as metrics is being ignored, again, even though it was proven for all to see when the tech bubble burst that eyeballs do not = profit. Every pair of eyeballs is not worth the same amount, even on the same website. Every click-through is not worth the same. Every ad impression does not get seen by the real target market, even though on average (according to the outlet and their "independent 3rd party" user data), it will.
Those who fail to learn from history...
We see this in all sorts of well meaning blogs. The sensational headlines bring in the eyeballs. Viewers definitely shape the news they are viewing. Some blogs that I read every day seem guilty of it at times.
When is the last time you saw a headline about an airplane landing safely. Thousands upon thousands do so every day! You would think they were crashing around us all the time, a veritable epidemic of flaming debris tumbling through the air.
And don't get me started on this "war on terror."
Agreed, the divide and conquer behind the bullshit mindset on blogs and in the media is just that, bullshit to distract. Want things to change, go out and make a difference in your community and go from there.
I didn't know that criticizing the banking criminals and doing good in my local community was mutually exclusive.
Thanks for the bullshit argument.
you mention demand media - you're talking about these nobs
http://www.demandmedia.com/
the financial MSM is the author of its own demise as it perpetuates the extend and pretend dream, with few exceptions today's so-called traditional journalists sold their souls long ago
So the only question that comes to mind after reading another piece of diatribe from Stoned Street Apologists is:
What are the Criminals paying you for cover ?
1. Of course the regulators are complicit. Their bosses at the political whoring division of Banking Cartel, Inc. tell them to watch skin porn, not the financial porn of sphincter enlargement perpetrated by the skimmers and churners in Wall Street.
2. It doesn't matter how much you wish to intellectualize the financial/media interbreeding game. The media is owned and/or financed by the Banking Cartel.
The yapping sound you hear is you, sitting on the lap of the amoral criminals that are tearing apart families and America.
Say, you wouldn't have a club foot, would you ?
Kayman, I think you are reading to much into the "diatribe from Stoned Street", (love that word "diatribe").
This is the second one I have read and if I don't read another that would be a OK with me!!! I like to give people three chances to make a favorable impression, this guy is only getting two....
This is written by a arrogant and ignorant young man who thinks well of himself. Odds are, in decade from now, if he goes back and reads what he has written here, he will be extremely embarrassed.
If he's not, than he is destined to be an asshole for life......
What exactly do you know about me, preytell? Your comment is completely and totally unrelated to the material in the post. I've read your previous comments, and have yet to read one that makes any sense what-so-ever or is supported by any data, sound analysis, or even common sense.
I've spent the past several years highlighting problems with the financial system, how to fix them, etc, but you wouldn't know that, because you're just another lazy hater. News flash: I love it, keep the ad hominem attacks coming, you're just making us that much more popular!