Billmon Sounds Off
This warrrants discussion.
Billmon's LA times op-ed is here.
Anyone who isn't registered at the LA Times but would enjoy the sight of Billmon, among other things, using their own editorial page to tell them what useless cheneying tools they and their brethren are, can use this password/ID: glimmung/themediasucks
(You can register and just make shit up, so long as the email is valid. I did.)
...When I recently decided to take a long break from blogging, it was for a mix of personal and philosophical reasons. But the direction the blogosphere is going makes me wonder whether I'll ever go back.Even as it collectively achieves celebrity status for its anti-establishment views, blogging is already being domesticated by its success. What began as a spontaneous eruption of populist creativity is on the verge of being absorbed by the media-industrial complex it claims to despise.
...I should have seen the writing on the wall earlier this year when the World Economic Forum, the ferociously trend-following CEO club, sponsored a panel session on blogging at its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The discussion quickly turned to the commercial possibilities of blogging, leading one advertising executive to wonder why the big media companies didn't swoop down and buy up the popular blogs while they were still cheap.
At the time, the idea of buying a blog struck me as funny, like trying to buy a conversation. Now, having seen blogs I admired mutate into glorified billboards, and having witnessed the emergence of the "sponsored" blog (in which the blogger is literally an employee of, or contractor to, a corporate owner), I can see who's likely to have the last laugh.
I like to think of all the unsuspecting people who will see the op-ed, click the WB URL, and see this.
I don't wish to distract any attention from Kate's excellent thread below, but these subjects are closely related. This election could only be close in a country as abysmally served by its media as ours is.
Posted by OkieByAccident on September 26, 2004 at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)
Unsafe at Any Speed - Annex
I hope Billmon's new topic is not unsafe at any speed for us.
Posted by OkieByAccident on July 19, 2004 at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (30)
Send in the Clowns - Annex
Billmon - New Post
Posted by OkieByAccident on July 15, 2004 at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (59)
Caught Jeb Handed - Annex
Billmon - New Post
Posted by OkieByAccident on July 15, 2004 at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
The AP Screws Up Again - Annex
Billmon - New Post
Posted by OkieByAccident on July 14, 2004 at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Fear Strikes Out - Annex
Billmon - New Post
Posted by OkieByAccident on July 14, 2004 at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Right From Wrong - Annex
Billmon - New Post
Posted by OkieByAccident on July 14, 2004 at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Class Warfare - Annex
Billmon - New Post
Posted by OkieByAccident on July 13, 2004 at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (34)
Play It As It DeLays - Annex
Billmon: New Post
Posted by OkieByAccident on July 12, 2004 at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Back from the Shadows Again - Annex
Make this place what you really want it to be!
Posted by Jérôme à Paris on July 9, 2004 at 01:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (103)
