The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.
Catchup
: Rafat Ali’s Paid Content reported the deal to bring a Starz movie network to the Internet with Real on June 10. The NY Times and LA Times reported it only today, four days later. If the reporters had only read blogs, they could have had the story long since.
Well, at least it was featured as the lead story in the Monday media/technology version of the business page, rather than buried in Friday’s garbage.
What a non-event. Did the article use the word synergy? Because 0 plus 0 still equals 0.
Crappy software:
I just attended my college Alumni Weekend, and over beers a bunch of my fraternity brother guys started talking about network security, viruses, spyware, etc. My mix of Norton AV, AdAware and Spybot, Zone Alarm, and a good router has kept me clean for a long time. The topic moved to browser hijacks (avoid any web site from Russia!!!), and eventually “legit” software that took to many liberties. It turns out, that of 30 of us, only 1 uses Real as a preferred media player. Three others keep a lite version installed, just in case there’s is something they REALLY need to see for work. That leaves 26 people who do not and WILL NOT use Real. Almost all of us have uninstalled it on our home machines, anyone in charge of machines at work refuses to allow it anywhere on site. The constant barrage of cookies, “updates” that hijack system settings and file associations, alwyas trying to run in the background, eating up cycles and increasing boot times.
I used to keep it around just in case, and used it maybe once a month. But every time I used it, it would activate this boot up routine called tinkerbell, even if you had the “load Real at windows startup” disabled. So at random times, Zone Alarm would go nuts asking me of Real can access the internet. Hell no. I got sick of running msconfig every time I ran Real.
In 2001, I shitcanned it for good. Haven’t missed a beat. There is only one thing I would like to have, PGA’s TourCast, but since it needs Real I’ll just have to go without.
Crappy television:
All movie networks suck. The only reason they still exist is because of HBO’s original programming. My cable company basically gives the other packages away once you buy HBO. But I don’t need to see “Planes Trains and Automobiles” every day. And the other 18 steaming turds they repeat endlessly over 15 channels. I was getting SHO and CINE for a $2 a moth each (about 20 channels worth), and I still cancelled them. I would go 2 months at a time between stopping on one of those channels.
If I’m somewhere where there isn’t a TV, there’s a reason. It usually involves getting out of the damned house. Not watching a mpeg-artifacted movie on a 15 inch laptop monitor, through tinny speakers.
If you really need this, I suggest you back away from the computer, find a hobby…
Reporters do read blogs, but in order to get the full details on a story like this, they typically agree to an embargo. In this case, the embargo was for Monday, June 14. Rafat broke the embargo by reporting the story Friday, which no reporter at a professional publication could do if s/he wanted to be able to interview executives in the future. Perhaps more importantly, Rafat got several important details of the story wrong. Those who respected for the embargo had access to company executives and therefore, by and large, didn’t.
Fascinating stuff … I thoroughly enjoyed Angelos’ rant, and A Reporter’s embargo explanation.
Mr Reporter
Had you read my story, you would have seen the first para which says both Starz and Real refused to comment on the story. I had been working on the story since early last week, since Rob Glaser shot off his mouth at the D Conference by telling people present at the conference that they were launching this service next week. Someone passed on the tip to me…
The first thing I did was contact the two companies, saying I am doing the story, they should comment officially. but they did not want to spoil there PR plans, which of course I was not a part of.
I spoke to about 20 people, just none of them the official sources, since they didn’t want to. I don’t adhere to PR schedules, since I am usually not a part of these schedules. I am known to spoil companies’ PR plans by breaking stories through unofficial sources..its called reporting, Mr Reporter. Did you learn your journalism from a PR school?
Regards
Rafat
Good for Rafat. We’re supposed to break news, remember? Sounds like he did it the good ol’ fashioned way, and I applaud him for it. We don’t work for PR agencies. Not yet, anyway…
Please. This is entertainment business journalism, not Watergate. Breaking the “news” that this service was launching is not some big scoop. Everyone knew it was coming fairly soon. By respecing the embargo, professional reporters were able to get all their details right, something Rafat didn’t do. They also maintain good relationships with the companies they cover so that they can get good stories in the future. That’s not the schoolchild’s ideal journalism, but it’s the real world. And it’s obvious that Rafat’s “tip” can in one way or another be sourced back to somebody who knew about the embargoed news.
The simple fact is that blogs can do whatever they want, but professional reporters need to pick and choose their battles, and getting several important details wrong in order to break a story like this a (business) day early is not something that professional reporters an afford to do. If professional reporters acted like some bloggers do, there wouldn’t be any business news getting broken, by and large. Bloggers like Rafat provide an important service, but most of what they do is leeching off of what professional reporters do, either through links along with commentary or by “breaking” news that we have to agree to embargo. Claiming the moral high ground when they wouldn’t exist without us is laughable.
Every day I take part in a daily newscast on KenRadio.com and our motto is “while others may break the news, we fix it” by getting the news out when it’s NEW.
Ali did the right thing, espcially since the topic leaked out at D with Walt Mossberg. The story was in some respects still NEW to the mass media, even if it was OLD news to the streaming media community.
Bloggers are viewed by PR people and old school media types like the papparazzi. Translation. When we are around without their blessing, they hate us. When they need something from us, they love us.
The number of PR people in Hollywood who use the papparazzi when a star is on the ascent to get a photo or “leak” in the media is one of the dirty secrets of entertainment PR. It’s like admiting you know your neighborhood dealer to you snobby, socially correct set. Yet, when someone needs a story out that needs to filter up to the mainstream media, it gets leaked, and not always to the Hollywood Reporter directly. It goes to, you guessed it, the papparazzi.
The same here for bloggers.
As someone who crosses all three lines, editor/ reporter, blogger and PR agency person, I see the true value in the blogosphere. It keeps the media on its toes, and PR types have to be ready to move to our schedule sometimes.
Having been around this “game” since 1974 I was schooled the old fashioned way. Have relationships with everyone who can get your story out.
As a reporter/editor, Ali worked his relationships. Once the facts were known, or even partially known, he attempted to get all the facts. Since REAL is publicly traded any reporter knowing the facts before the release could be considered receiving preferential treatment, which would be why they didn’t return calls on the record and in reality means the embargo really should not exist at the time he called if it was while the market was open. Likely, the real information (Pun intended) was sent after market close on Thursday (well it should have been) so at that point Ali broke the story, he was really (sic)being a reporter.
We’re in an era of where SEC regulations make it a requirement to disclose to all, when a material announcement is made to some. If Glaser’s announcement @ D was material (something I think is a grey area) then Real and Starz were compelled to announce it to all then. Since it sounds like Glaser alluded to it, and didn’t actually say it, he may have skirted the line.
Don’t be fooled. This leak was surely intentional by Glaser who knows how to play the media. He’s very good at that, sometime giving fits to his PR people’s best laid plans.
As for A Reporter, face it, Ali beat you and all who were waiting for the press release to rewrite instead of working from news sources. You do remember sources. They don’t always work for the company your supposed to be covering. They work in the sector, sometimes for the competition, sometimes for a supplier. Sometimes their an analyst who covers the space who already had the briefing you’re so patiently waiting for. Sometimes they are the PR people who give you details, not for attribution. Oh, and sometimes they’re bloggers.
When the old school media stops thinking that the bloggers are the enemy and starts realizing that we’re their best friends, journalism will be back on track. Besides, todays blogger is tomorrows most read columnist, and even better, vice versa!