Disqus - Latest Comments for holdfast

Re: HBO Now problems with on demand

holdfast — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 20:58:03 -0000

Trying to watch GoT on HBO Now, but after selecting "play" and seeing the "trying to access HBO Now" above the pinwheel gif, an error message appears black background that reads "Video Error
one moment, please. Something went wrong on our end and we need to restart.
Service code: -4000

Re: Why Audiences Hate Hard News—Even Though They Love Thinking Otherwise

holdfast — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 16:19:20 -0000

And yet, in two year's time, if not sooner, even TIME will likely cease to exist because the business model can't sustain the expensive work that is required for good, high-impact journalism. Whether it's the paper version or Time.com, that organization has been sinking ever deeper into the red every quarter for several years. Subscriptions are down, online traffic lags and advertising revenue shrinks and not because consumers are flocking to TheEconomist. Fact: people and the money flow to sites like Buzzfeed and TMZ, however much some people want to believe that isn't so.

Re: Why Audiences Hate Hard News—Even Though They Love Thinking Otherwise

holdfast — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 16:10:35 -0000

Why not subscribe to news sources online, follow journalists on twitter or other social media, or just use Google to check on what's in the news, wherever you are?

Re: Why Audiences Hate Hard News—Even Though They Love Thinking Otherwise

holdfast — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 16:08:06 -0000

Journalism is a craft, but most journalists are in the advertising business -- i.e., they produce content to attract audiences and exposes them to ads. Journalists love to pretend it isn't so and many readers hate the fact that what they consume is only free and readily available because someone else is funding creation and distribution of "news."

What Derek talks about is undeniably true, but it's not just consumers who voting with their eyeballs. Advertisers invariably want their ads to appear adjacent to content that might enhance their brand and improve ROI on their ad dollars. The reason you see "bottom-feeder" weight-loss and other ads on pages carrying hard news, especially bad news or strong opinion, is that the big clients do not want to be seen in that context; the little guys, or the big guys with no reputation to preserve, don't care about that and like the lower rates for those particular ad placements.

It's critical to acknowledge that journalism serves two, unequal audiences, the more powerful of which is the advertising industry, since consumers, unless they are subscribers, don't contribute anything to the bottom line. And that is where blind faith in the supposed virtues of the marketplace damages our politics and culture by providing incentives for "soft" news and infotainment, while actively discouraging the press from devoting too much attention to the hard questions that make their paymasters nervous.

And worse, today's dominant, corporate media is all about access -- to celebrities, politicians, titans of business, etc. -- which means editors and reporters routinely make decisions to avoid asking some hard questions or pursuing stories that might hinder their ability to maintain access. So consumers are really #3 on the list of constituents news organizations worry about, and they are only really important in the aggregate.

Face it, today's American version of supposedly "free-market" capitalism makes every thing a numbers game. And the libertarian strain of that dogma makes it even worse, because any suggestion that there is value in community, in shared sacrifice or the common good, is heresy. Too many people and institutions today mistake references to "the People" in our foundational documents to mean simply "me" and "you," rather than some shared identity or purpose.

Re: Why Audiences Hate Hard News—Even Though They Love Thinking Otherwise

holdfast — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 15:43:02 -0000

It may be less a case of lying than of self-delusion. People think they are interested in important, hard news in subjects like politics, economics, world affairs; but their behavior betrays the fact that most people really want very little of that stuff, just enough to not appear clueless, and they get that easily from glancing at headlines, news updates on radio and TV, skimming social media. That information comes to them unbidden, for the most part, so they really aren't inclined to probe further when more irresistible click-bait is readily available. The hours and hours spent snacking on infotainment and/or content that affirms what they already believe to be true isn't seen by the consumer as preferring "candy" to "vegetables" -- they think they are consuming both. But for content providers, the dichotomy is obvious and leads to critical decisions about staffing, assignments, voice and willingness to ask hard questions that both users and advertisers don't seem to want.

Re: PBS Ombudsman: ‘An Abdication of Duty’ For PBS to Not Carry Breaking News on the Weekend - TVNewser

holdfast — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:09:59 -0000

Thats simply false. I was listening to NPR minutes after the Challenger blew up and they had thorough coverage -- at least as good as what was carried on the TV nets that day. I worked in national TV news at the time and while I am proud of what we did and do, NPR didn't fail that day or any others (unless your local NPR station was automated or off the air).

Re: Even North Koreans Watch ‘The Situation Room’ - TVNewser

holdfast — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:49:30 -0000

Well, at least he has a fan base somewhere

Re: Fox News Identifies Elie Wiesel as Holocaust Winner - TVNewser

holdfast — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:45:35 -0000

Wow, going to the well for that one. That gaffe was in early 2002!

Re: Is Jon Stewart Changing His Tune on CNN? - TVNewser

holdfast — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 14:34:27 -0000

Exactly. Hardly a compliment (and funny because it was a slap).

Re: ABC News Partnering with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Year-Long Health Series - TVNewser

holdfast — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:52:22 -0000

Good for ABC News. Broadcast journalism needs to consider ways other than advertising to support newsgathering and enable good, earnest, not-necessarily-ratings-grabbing reportage. And good for the Gates people for geting behind something that's not just public broadcasting. Wonder how long it will be before CBS and NBC line up to make a similar deal.

Re: Christine O’Donnell to Sean Hannity: No More National Media for Me - TVNewser

holdfast — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 17:02:30 -0000

What makes you think they won't? Chuck Todd and Morning Joe did it earlier today.

Re: Rick Sanchez Watches His Car Chases on Fox News - TVNewser

holdfast — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:51:42 -0000

Yet Fox, and eventually msnbc, were the ones putting it on the air. If CNN did, I didn't see it. I don't disagree, however, that Sanchez is vapid and annoying (even when he's trying to "cover" serious news)>

Re: Aaron Brown on the Political Focus of Cable News - TVNewser

holdfast — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:48:47 -0000

Me too. With Jean Enerson as co-anchor (at least on KING). Aaron is a class act and a very principled, if somewhat crumudgeonly journalist.

Re: Newsers Make 'Most Stylish New Yorkers' List - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

holdfast — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:45:27 -0000

"They hurl insults" at you? Delusions are real too, I guess.

Re: PBS Ombudsman Addresses Possible NOVA Conflict - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

holdfast — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 16:50:38 -0000

It's predictable, but not constructive, to cast this as yet another partisan squabble, just one more skirmish in the culture war of right vs. left. What's more interesting here is the actual science and what it means -- in an historic and antropological sense, not in terms of climate-change politics. The observation that human evolution was related to cataclysmic climate change in the past is value neutral and uncontroversial. Koch may or may not be a climate-change crank, but unless someone has direct evidence that he's influenced them to distort the research, he seems in this case to primarily be a supporter of science. To suggest that it's political to conclude something "good" resulted from the "tradgedy" of past catastrophes is absurd -- that's fundamental to the concept of evolution. Nor does it make sense to conclude that because our evolution as a species was enabled by some ancient climate disaster, we shouldn't worry about how we appear to be precipitating a similar crisis in the not-too-distant future.

Re: Report: Broadcast TV Aging Faster Than the Population - TVNewser

holdfast — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:04:14 -0000

The comparison is b/t broadcast nets; as noted. Fox doesn't have broadcast news, only cable. So yeah, the Fox (entertainment) demo is marginally younger than for the evening news at other nets. That sYs nothing about your beloved FNC (a cable operation). LMAO

Re: Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on Shirley Sherrod; Glenn Beck's Special Comment on Keith Olbermann - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

holdfast — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:55:09 -0000

Beck and his dumb*** sidekick remind me of a couple of wise-ass junior high students making fun of a book they couldn't understand or a movie that was too advanced for their adolescent minds. I can't stand Olbermann either, but Beck did nothing in that clip but show (once again) how willfully stupid he and his fans are. Imagine, anyone expecting you to know anything about history! If you did, why, you'd know just what a blathering liar he is! You'd know that his rabid patriotism has nothing to do with the Constituition, American history or values, or facts of any kind! And then where would he be? Hey, can I interest you in buying some gold?

Re: Who Was 'Snookered?' News Nets Dig In to the Shirley Sherrod Story - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

holdfast — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:33:05 -0000

Ain't that the truth. Whether they know, or acknowledge it or not, many on the right emody the worst intellectual and ethical traits of the so-called New Left activists of 30 years ago. "Everything is political" -- once a rallying cry of feminists and other lefties -- has become an article of faith for the foxoids.

Re: Phyllis McGrady To Leave Fulltime Role at ABC News - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

holdfast — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:05:45 -0000

Wow. Another solid ABC News veteran leaves the ranks (sort of). Phyllis is as good as they get, but given all the cuts and the fact that Westin seems to be fighting just to keep his job, it kind of makes sense that she's had enough. Best wishes PM.

Re: Cenk Uygur Becoming MSNBC Friday Regular - TVNewser

holdfast — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:50:22 -0000

using the peacock and the name of a network, as if you somehow speak for that entity? Unless you are the head of msnbc, you shouldn't be allowed to post under that handle at all (and even if you are, you should be upfront about it) jerk

Re: Megyn Kelly to Kirsten Powers: 'With Respect, You Don't Seem to Know What You're Talking About' - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

holdfast — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:47:36 -0000

The entire segment was a load of crap, from the intro, through the ridiculous bit of tea-party home video. Kelly is a shameless hack for the Ailes wing of the GOP. Better looking than Ed Schultz maybe, but otherwise similar in her bombastic, partisan rants.

Re: CNN Correspondent Octavia Nasr Responds To Twitter Controversy - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

holdfast — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:29:25 -0000

Maybe she can cook up a batch of Helen Thomas's Palestinian Chicken (http://bit.ly/99bqTy) and have a good cry about it all. As Linda Leigh notes, best not to put your opinions or hobbies into print ANYWHERE. It all comes back to bite you eventually.

Re: Willie Geist Fills in for Matt Lauer on ‘Today’ - TVNewser

holdfast — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:14:47 -0000

Willie rocks and he makes a good replacement for Matt. Kudos

Re: Mark Halperin Joins MSNBC - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

holdfast — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:12:34 -0000

Ugh. Mark does call them as he sees them, but he's so cynical, back-stabbing and rude that I don't see him as a great addition to the MJ line up. He lacks real warmth and the only thing he ever seems to care about is who is winning and how are they beating the other guy. That's interesting sometimes; but I find the messenger pretty repulsive. His so-called "blog" is one of the worst pieces of crap in the game, even if it does, occasionally contain some good information. Full of inside jokes and ridiculous, faux-clever aliases for public figures, I have to agree that he represents the kind of NE elitist, insider media perspective that's turned off most americans to politics.

Re: Matt Taibbi thinks Lara Logan is one of the reasons network news 'hasn't mattered since the 70s' - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

holdfast — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:29:22 -0000

Matty boy should learn some lessons in good journalism and manners from his father, who is an exceptional reporter and a very decent human being. Matt likes to express his strong opinions and, in fairness, has written a few very good things for Rolling Stone. But he too often comes off like a condescending, self-important half-wit.