Eat The Press quotes the indestructible Maer Roshan today, defending his choice to give the whole dead tree thing one more go. Keep in mind that Radar is essentially the print version of Gawker, or Jossip, or on a bad day, PerezHilton.com. Their demographic, assuming anyone beyond the confines of the tightly-knit Manhattan gossip-blogger network actually buys the magazine, would ostensibly consist of people who ingest massive amounts of internet snark. Also keep in mind that Gawker has, for its own masturbatory reasons, acted as a dedicated PR arm of the magazine during each of its launches. To be sure, many of us would be far less likely to know anything about this tiny drop in the magazine bucket were it not for their exhaustive (and exhausting) coverage of it.
All of which makes this reactionary jab by Maer today so deliciously perverse:
"Certainly it would be more economical to hire pajama-clad post-collegiates to snarkily blog on content produced by others. But if your mission is to break new ground, dispatching actual reporters and photographers to cover actual stories still has an essential power."
Now, ponder this: Time Magazine has just made a fundamental paradigm shift in how it reports and analyzes the news. A shift away from their straight news, no chaser standard toward a more polemic mindset, hiring boldname opinionistas like Bill Kristol to dissect the news and offer their own zesty perspective on it. I'm fairly certain that I saw Kristol wandering around the 22nd floor the other day in pajamas. All of which begs the question - is Stengel more new media now than Roshan? It's a strange new world out there, kids, take care of yourselves.
Like a bad Dennis Miller commentary, this blog left me wishing you didn't feel ike you had so much to prove about your vocabulary. Keep up the good work and come back to the reality that is modern life.
Btw....
how's Jeff?
xo
Posted by: Max Dennis | Thursday, February 01, 2007 at 08:17 AM
yes...I know....I spelled "like" wrong....
Posted by: Max Dennis | Thursday, February 01, 2007 at 08:18 AM
Sorry to get all polysyllabic on you.
Posted by: Aatom | Thursday, February 01, 2007 at 10:11 AM
I think he has great legs, so how bad can he possibly be?
Posted by: mymymichl | Friday, February 02, 2007 at 02:01 AM
You've seen Maer Roshan's legs?
Posted by: Aatom | Friday, February 02, 2007 at 11:11 AM
This actually sadened me. Damn Radar.. I really despise that magazine..
Hope all is well mister :)
Posted by: Laz | Wednesday, February 28, 2007 at 04:17 PM
*peers around*
*blinks*
Hrm. And just where has Aatom gotten off to?
Er, that question is a lot less loaded than it might seem on the surface.
Posted by: Robbie | Thursday, March 01, 2007 at 12:37 PM
My dear, there is *nothing* New Media about Maer. He's as old school as you get. He wants nothing more than to be Graydon Carter Jr. -- not surprising that he doesn't "get" the value of online efforts...
Posted by: Sprague Dawley | Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 08:01 PM