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Archive for the 'death of old media' Category
PlanetOut’s still struggling! Despite selling RSVP Vacations and splitting its stocks, the gay publishing company - which brings us Out and The Advocate [and gay.com, hello], among others - simply can’t find the cash to stay afloat.
In an effort to keep from going under completely, the company’s reportedly looking for a sugar daddy: · (Read More)
I still own all my PlanetOut stock - I think it was about 500 shares or so that I bought when I left the company—now about 50 after their recent 10-1 reverse split. I’ve kept it because it’s the only time I received an actual stock certificate, and having one with a tricker of LGBT is a cool piece of queer interweb history.
One of the comments on the linked post said “OUT once spoke to all gay men, it now speaks to a small percentage who buy Gucci and other fashion brands that have nothing to do with an average or successful gay consumer.”
I beg to differ that Out ever spoke for all gay men. For a period of time time, those magazines had the benefit of being novel and unique against a landscape of other lifestyle mags, but that time has passed. The changing landscape of queer politics and lifestyle have fractured and commodotized into a thousand different groups. Just like there is no monolithic “black vote” supporting Obama, queers are more diverse than a single, static, unpersonalized sheaf of pages can speak to.
With the web, they have the ability to behaviorally target the specific and varied interests of the reader, providing advertising and content that is relevant to different demographics, rather than just Guccigays. Sadly, PNO (and by extension out and the advocate) did not invest in their technology infrastructure to flex into this new mode of content delivery. They rested on the laurels of the gay.com domain, assuming that would bring in the eyeballs, while their competition became nimble and microtargeted their audiences… and as such, PNO continues its tailspin.
I want to see them survive - partly because of the staggering number of once prestigious brands that could go down with it, partly for the cool people who still work there, and partly because I can see a cool future for them, but they’ll need a massive infusion of strategy and cash in order to do so.
[dupe/repost with a different slug, since i linked to my blog from queerty’s comments and broke the link. duh.]
Sphere: Related ContentPlanetOut’s still struggling! Despite selling RSVP Vacations and splitting its stocks, the gay publishing company - which brings us Out and The Advocate [and gay.com, hello], among others - simply can’t find the cash to stay afloat.
In an effort to keep from going under completely, the company’s reportedly looking for a sugar daddy: · (Read More)
I still own all my PlanetOut stock - I think it was about 500 shares or so that I bought when I left the company—now about 50 after their recent 10-1 reverse split. I’ve kept it because it’s the only time I received an actual stock certificate, and having one with a tricker of LGBT is a cool piece of queer interweb history.
One of the comments on the linked post said “OUT once spoke to all gay men, it now speaks to a small percentage who buy Gucci and other fashion brands that have nothing to do with an average or successful gay consumer.”
I beg to differ that Out ever spoke for all gay men. For a period of time time, those magazines had the benefit of being novel and unique against a landscape of other lifestyle mags, but that time has passed. The changing landscape of queer politics and lifestyle have fractured and commodotized into a thousand different groups. Just like there is no monolithic “black vote” supporting Obama, queers are more diverse than a single, static, unpersonalized sheaf of pages can speak to.
With the web, they have the ability to behaviorally target the specific and varied interests of the reader, providing advertising and content that is relevant to different demographics, rather than just Guccigays. Sadly, PNO (and by extension out and the advocate) did not invest in their technology infrastructure to flex into this new mode of content delivery. They rested on the laurels of the gay.com domain, assuming that would bring in the eyeballs, while their competition became nimble and microtargeted their audiences… and as such, PNO continues its tailspin.
I want to see them survive - partly because of the staggering number of once prestigious brands that could go down with it, partly for the cool people who still work there, and partly because I can see a cool future for them, but they’ll need a massive infusion of strategy and cash in order to do so.
Sphere: Related ContentFrom my pal kniwt, who is—sadly—in this dying industry:
Sphere: Related ContentCOPY EDITOR/PAGE DESIGNER: The Times-Standard, the Redwood Coast’s premier daily newspaper for 154 years, is looking for an entry-level copy editor/page designer to join an award-winning staff covering a 3,600-square-mile area stretching from Mendocino to the Oregon border. In this intensely competitive media market, we’re looking for someone who can deliver accuracy on deadline, but also has an eye for impactful layout and a wire report that helps readers understand key issues. Top candidates will have a college degree and copy editing/pagination experience. Extra points for living on the West Coast and being familiar with QuarkXpress software. As part of MediaNews Group, we offer a competitive benefits package.
http://www.cnpa.com/classified/classified.html
Salary $22,800 to $25,000, depending upon experience. (Read More)
I’m watching KTVU news this morning for no reason whatsoever. Every once in awhile I turn it on to see how long I can stand to have my news chewed up, editorialized, injected with extra fear and/or religion, and regurgitated back to me. I think my current record is about 2 minutes.
The pertinent facts of the current story is this: A woman in Oakland was hit and killed by a car overnight, which did not stick around the scene of the accident or call it in or anything.
Not interesting enough for morning news apparently. Frank Somerville and the (allegedly) dickhead writers of KTVU chose to add this unnecessary bit of fluff: “at Grand avenue and Lennox, which is [tense and knowing emphasis] very close [/] to Children’s Fairyland.”
Because it could have been YOUR CHILD who was viciously run down. In the middle of the night. At 1:15am. Going to Fairyland. As they tend to do at 1:15am.
The fact that a woman was killed isn’t funny, but that the TV news is sensationalizing it is. In a terrifying way.
A few days ago I heard an interview with Mike Gravel on NPR. He noted that the American public has been kept in a state of continuous fear by our government since the beginning of the Cold War, and that the mainstream DNC candidates are not likely to change the status quo.
Sphere: Related ContentDonda West, mother of Kanye West and former chairwoman of Chicago State University’s English department, has died, a spokesman for the rapper said. She was 58.
Donda West died Saturday night in Los Angeles, said the spokesman, who asked for anonymity because not all family members had been notified.
“The family respectfully asks for privacy during this time of grief,” the spokesman said. (Read More)
I am having trouble parsing this. A family spokesman has asked for anonymity? How does that work? Not to mention the callous nature of the leak.
Sphere: Related ContentSphere: Related ContentComcast Corp. on Tuesday acknowledged “delaying” some subscriber Internet traffic, but said any roadblocks it puts up are temporary and intended to improve surfing for other users.
The statement was a response to an Associated Press report last week that detailed how the nation’s largest cable company was interfering with file sharing by some of its Internet subscribers. The AP also found that Comcast’s computers masqueraded as those of its users to interrupt file-sharing connections.
Internet watchdog groups denounced Comcast’s actions, calling it an example of the kind of abuse that could be curbed with so-called “Net Neutrality” legislation. It would require Internet providers to treat all traffic equally — as has largely been the case historically. (Read More)
I love Bladerunner. I have to buy this latest version. I have to get rid of the last version I bought. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could “upgrade” media you already purchased?
Sphere: Related ContentOver the years, five versions of the film have been released, including a director’s cut in 1992. But Scott said the “Final Cut” — which will be issued as a collector’s DVD edition later in the winter — was “really as it was intended to be.”
“A good film is like a good book, you might go to the shelf and take it off and revisit it. There are not a lot of films I can do that with from my collection of material,” (Read More)
Sphere: Related ContentFollowing on the heels of the Universal Music/iTunes rift, NBC/Universal has declined to renew its iTunes contract according to the NY Times. The current deal is due to expire this December. 1500+ hours of NBC Universal content, including The Office and Heroes, will remain on iTunes until that time. So what happens after December? (Read More)
Sphere: Related ContentThe Snickers ads and the offensive reactions to them from NFL Super Bowl players have been pulled.
Alice Nathanson, a spokesman for Masterfoods, told Stuart Elliott of the NYT: “As with all of our Snickers advertising, our goal was to capture the attention of our core Snickers consumer, primarily 18-to-24-year-old adult males. Feedback from our target consumers has been positive, and many media and Web site commentators on this year’s Super Bowl lineup ranked the commercial among this year’s best. We know that humor is highly subjective and we understand that some consumers have found the commercial offensive. Clearly that was not our intent. We do not plan to continue the ad on television or on our Web site.”
It would be nice to hear that the company understands exactly why showing Super Bowl athletes reacting with disgust to images of men kissing is so patently offensive (homophobia is a learned behavior), but at least the correct action has been taken. Good work, folks.
(Read more…)