As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
...in this case, it's on to something. Sort of, but worth thinking about. Virginia Heffernan, who it's been scientifically proven is wrong about everything, is wrong about what she frets about in the Times today, in her article "The Death of the Open Web," which is a typical piece of NYT silliness.
She's worried that with more stuff going behind a paywall -- a lot of News Corp's titles, for instance -- and she frets about the app universe, especially Apple's, for its restrictions and censorship and general all-around supervised play.
Neglecting, naturally for a New York Times writer, the giant, floating, pulsating reality in front of her. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter -- all open, WIDE open, all growing at an amazing clip. YouTube, for those who don't know, is the second-largest search engine in the world. In addition to being a wide-open platform for video. In addition to changing the entire media landscape for ever -- by creating an open, democratic, chaotic video marketplace.
How's that for open? Yes, Virginia, there are apps. And news sites behind a paywall. But that's hardly the trend.
On the other hand, she's right that the chaos and craziness of the web has encouraged people to think about ways to tame it, a bit. To create great experiences for people who want them.
I think what we're doing at Ricochet is sort of an interesting blend -- we want everyone, anyone, to be able to read our content. But in order to create a more civilized, readable, less-swampy and more enjoyable conversational experience, we're asking people who want to participate to become members, to pay a (small) monthly fee.
Which I'm sure is something Virginia Heffernan will worry about.
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May '10
Re: As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
Ironically, I just read her piece via the NYT iPhone app which provides a much better experience to access the paper's content on the smaller iPhone screen than the "open" web site. That's what is really driving the success of the app ecosystem: the best apps simply make it easier and more enjoyable to access content, including her own.
Re: As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
Rob, my favorite Heffernanism from the piece: "But a kind of virtual redlining is now under way. The Webtropolis is being stratified." Oh, oh. To complete her metaphor Congress must first enact a Community Internet Reinvestment Act to combat discriminatory Internet practices in low-income neighborhoods. Then Representative Frank and whoever succeeds Senator Dodd as the upper chamber's Bubble Market Maestro can twiddle the dials and adjust the levers for maximum political effect. What harm could come from that?
Re: As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
What's amazing, of course, is that we all read Heffernan's piece online, for free! Which will go on as long as Pinch Sulzberger can convince Carlos Slim to keep the money hose gushing. But at some point, that's going to stop. And so will Virginia Heffernan's paychecks. At which point she'll write an article about the "new trend" in web publishing: pay walls! And how wonderful they are.
May '10
Re: As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
As a serious follower of web trends *and* as a native Michigander (Detroit area), I found myself laughing out loud when I heard Detroit's struggles compared to Internet paywalls. Makes no sense (still cracking me up). I can't wait to tell my friends back in the D who've lost their jobs that they're not alone - there are a bunch of sad free websites that are feeling their pain!
I love my iPhone, but I can't help but point out that the Android mobile operating system -- which is open -- just surpassed iPhone. http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/npd-android-now-number-two-smartphone-os/2010-05-10
Wait, an open OS just surpassed the almighty iPhone?! It's like... like everyone is running back to Detroit? Nope, still doesn't make sense.
May '10
Re: As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
My guess is she's less likely to worry about a conservative site being behind a paywall than a liberal one.
May '10
Re: As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
John makes a point that bothers me more and more and I wonder if it doesn't help explain why conservatism has ceded so much of the culture.
Conservative media figures out how to make money but often does not benefit conservatism in any meaningful way other than to stir already hot coals. Meanwhile, leftist media loses money and has to find benefactors like the Government (NPR) or Carlos Slim (NYT) or George Soros (everything else), but is freely accessible, and seems to help the leftist cause at every turn.
I see leftist media as successfully raising generations of followers, true believers. I don't see conservative media changing any minds. You can argue Rush did that at one time, but when he was really changing hearts his program was a little more like NPR and less like what it is today.
Re: As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
Craig, that made me laugh, too.
And as much of an Apple Kool-Aid drinker as I am, there's something about the Android I really like. Please don't tell Steve.
Re: As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
Hmmmm, Brian, I hear you on guys like Soros, but frankly, I think someone like Andrew Breitbart has done more serious work, more effective work, for his issues than Soros. And for a lot less money.
And it's hard to imagine a more powerfully transforming media event than the launch of FoxNews, which makes pots of money.
Opening yourself up to the rigors and focus of the competitive marketplace makes you more nimble, I think.
May '10
Re: As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
The most profound influence that conservative media have had on public opinion is once- twice- thrice-removed: that is, the information and arguments of NRO, Brietbart, Commentary, Uncommon Knowledge, etc.--and now Ricochet--are passed along via the "hardcore followers" to the less-engaged-but-still-concerned masses, where the pass-it-along effect only grows. Many a mother-in-law would be disgusted to know--and therefore should be kept ignorant of the fact--that Rush Limbaugh was the original cause of her subtle Thanksgiving conversion. We need the original shots before we can have all the compounding and incalculable ricochets.
May '10
Re: As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
I'm going to pretend you didn't say that about Android, Rob, so that our budding Ricochet friendship might survive the first day. (insert appropriate emoticon here)
Okay, you trumped me with Breitbart. He has probably reached more people on the left than most other conservative media. But I'll stand fast on FoxNews, which thankfully serves a great purpose, but I wonder if they are changing any minds? (Outside of the last 20 minutes of Special Report of course.)
I'm just lamenting the pervasiveness of so much intellectually lazy liberal media and wishing we had an NPR. This is the reason your podcasts are so good, just great conservative minds talking things out, openly, without hype or sensationalism. That is a very rare thing on the right.
It is hard to believe that the major media outlets are headed by such ideologues who will, apparently until death, not pursue what is obviously the path to success, what with FoxNews making money hand over fist, and a guy like Breitbart proving he can become famous and make a buck just doing honest journalism. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and see a CBS shift to logical hard journalism.
Re: As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
This is an interesting question. Because on the one hand, it would be great to spread the word (I like your image of the Thanksgiving conversion, Scott) and our side, broadly defined, probably would benefit from a lot more outreach, a greater focus on persuading the other side. But I still can't help but think we might do just as well by hashing things out amongst ourselves, by having public, interesting conversations about the things that unify and divide us on the center/right.
May '10
Re: As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
The key to changing minds, aside from simply being honest and clear, is demonstration of genuine and patient interest in one's opponents. People listen when they believe the speaker is truly interested in their well-being. It's the difference between a conversation and a debate, whether it feels like two people searching for truth together or just two people having at each other. If you can't first convince your opponent that you're having a genuinely two-sided conversation, then you're just whispering in the wind.
Of course, not everyone's interested in real conversation, so there is something to be said for simply placing your ideas out there and letting God handle the advertising. ;)
In regard to the "Open Web", it's a double-edged sword. The internet is both a great tool of freedom and a great tool of nihilism. The orgy of media overwhelms the ability of many to qualify and sort it all. It's easy to believe life is meaningless and infinitely mutable if you have no philosophical way to harmonize so much information.
May '10
Re: As much as I loathe the NY Times, especially when it tries to be culturally relevant...
Brian, I don't hold my breath on places like CBS. As any organization becomes more extreme, it loses more an more moderates. The MSM is doing this now. As this happens, there is less and less need to cater to the center. Thus there is more intensification. The social forces at work are why a cult grows stronger when its predictions fail: only the hardest core members are left.
The MSM caters more an more to an increasingly lefty audience, and get more and more deaf to reality.