My childhood pal Patrick Goldstein knows media journalism as well as perhaps anyone in the country. He started writing professionally at the Chicago Sun-Times, and then moved out to Los Angles where he worked for the Times, initially with a column on music, "The Pop Eye," and in more recent years on entertainment in general with "The Big Picture." He left the paper a year ago, taking a buy-out, and has been bidding his time since, writing freelance articles when the spirit movies him.
His has a tremendous, detailed article just published here in Los Angeles Magazine about the history, changes and wars today between the four entertainment dailies, called "Pulp Friction." The piece deals in part on how brutal the inter-publication fighting has become and how it has impacted what's being written about, "Because while it may seem difficult at first to ignore media outlets that regularly call one another pieces of crap," Patrick notes, "it gets easier day by day." One of my favorite passages comes from a tweet sent to Jeff Sneider, who works for the online publication, The Wrap, a reporter obsessed with getting The Scoop, at perhaps the expense of getting the details. Not only does the tweet come from a surprising respondent, but it serves as sort of the theme to the article, commenting as it does to Sneider's very public and ongoing rant about his having gotten a casting story before anyone but not getting it published (“Should I write I FUCKING CALLED IT in sand on the beach?” was just the first of his tweets) because it hadn't been properly sourced. “'Rather than worry about EXCLUSIVES or FIRSTS why not focus on the story??' one of Sneider’s 10,000 followers tweeted. Only it wasn’t some featherweight fanboy. It was Fifty Shades producer Dana Brunetti. 'Your ridiculous desire to be 1st is annoying,' the producer wrote, adding, 'If you knew, then why not have a IN DEPTH article ready to go?? Isn’t that what reporting and journalism is? Not FIRST!'” It's this need to be first -- which as the article develops is shown to be one of the byproducts of having the lightning-fast pace of the Internet today -- that is the central focus the article deals with. "The race to be first," Patrick writes, "has spawned a sketchy 'we’ll fix it in the mix' style of journalism. 'Everyone in marketing and PR,' says one corporate publicist, 'has a tale that goes like this: When I told the reporter their story wasn’t true, they said, ‘We’ve gotta run it to drive traffic. If it’s wrong, we’ll correct it afterwards.’” That's the dilemma that is at the heart of the article is whether this speed and competition improve interest, or is it something that will ultimately might it have a very different impact, from the law of unintended consequences? Something "which should lead anyone who believes information is power to ask a basic question: In an era that often values 'stickiness' and the almighty click-through more than accuracy, analysis, or context, has the race to be first put meaningful entertainment journalism on the endangered list?" It's a very insightful, fascinating and lively article, far more than a mere "thought piece," thoughtful as it is, filled with outspoken interviews, pointed profiles of the major players, and wonderful inside stories, all done in the vibrant, yet open and objective style that marks Patrick's work. You can read the whole thing here.
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On Thursday night, tuning in to my DVR recording of Elementary, I happened to catch the very end of the previous show, Two and a Half Men" and noticed latest of those “Vanity Cards” that I mentioned the other day here which Chuck Lorre has at the end of this shows. I reran the recording and paused the screen. This one starts out cute, but then the fourth paragraph (the long one) blew me away with how great it was.
I had mentioned here that when John Goodman played the role of Pap Finn early in his career, in the musical Big River, he was replaced for a month on Broadway by the show's composer, country star Roger Miller. This isn't that -- but it's Roger Miller singing one of the songs from the show. Probably the prettiest song in Big River is called "Leavin's Not the Only Way to Go," which is sung by Hucklebarry Finn, Jim, and Mary Jane Wilkes. Here is Miller giving an impromptu -- and beautiful -- performance of it on a talk show. I believe the host is country singer Bobby Bare. Probably the only thing lovelier than the song is the expression on Roger Miller's face as he gets to sing from his Tony-winning score. Okay, as a bonus, here's the performance by Daniel Jenkins, Ron Richardson and Patti Cohenour, how it was done by the original Broadway cast.
There's little I want to write about the 50th anniversary of November 22, 1963. Jon Stewart made a semi-releated quip the other day that didn't get much of a laugh, after which he said, "Too soon?" For me, it sort of is. (In fairness, I think people didn't laugh because the quip wasn't too funny, though I thought it was amusing.)
I'll just say one thing. Two of the smartest people I ever knew were WGA members Bob Sabaroff and Fred Haines. Both utterly brilliant in numerous fields, particularly science, and both wildly independent thinkers. Bob had done a great deal of research over the years about the assassination -- he was (it was generally believed) a former member of the CIA who had been involved with the Bay of Pigs...though no one was ever quite sure when it came to Bob. Fred worked on a book with Vincent Bugliosi about the assassination. "Worked on a book" doesn't do it justice. He was involved with it for at least a decade, probably longer, and his research grew voluminous. The book at one point turned into something liked a 2,000 page epic. The publisher had to decide whether to release it in two massive volumes, or what. Eventually, Fred took his name off the book because the other fellow had really moved things forward in his own way, and also Fred got very ill (eventually passing away maybe 10 years ago), and I think it was in part an act of generosity to someone who was going to be living on. Fred came to the absolute, 100% certain conclusion that there was only one gun man, and it was the one everyone knows. I'm not saying that that's the truth or not. Just that it's what this remarkably brilliant man concluded after maniacal research. I can't swear to all the details about Bob Sabaroff's opinion. My recollection is that Bob believed the same, though he was conspiratorial-minded in so many things, and it's possible to convolute his many opinions. I do know that when there came to a far-right conspiracy, he tended to point the finger at Gen. Curtis LeMay, who many believe is the model for the crazy general in Dr. Strangelove. Bob Sabaroff, too, at this point has passed away. But I just wanted to note them both today. Mainly Fred. I was closer to Bob, but this became the center of Fred's life work towards the end of his life. And he -- they both -- were friends of one another and deserve mention. I was just sending a note to writer extraordinaire Randi Mayem Singer, whose many credits include Mrs. Doubtfire, when I glitched and realized the value of being careful with punctuation. Moving that comma one name over, it reads -- "Randi Mayem, Singer."
While the world would no doubt be anxiously awaiting some new CD from her of holiday songs (From My Hearth to Yours, no doubt), I don't know if that's the profession she'd want to be pushing at this hectic point in her career... In my article here on Wednesday that criticized the John Kass column in the Chicago Tribune, I quoted the number of Iraq War death for U.S. military. However, the number I used was for wounded personnel. (Happily, I at least included a link, so people could click on it and have seen what the number actually referred to.)
The correct number of deaths is 4,486. I've subsequently made the change. I've also added the number of civilian deaths (and link...), which is estimated at 126,51. All in the sake of trying to be accurate. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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