The more I think about it, the angrier I get at the astonishing level of arrogance flung all over the place by AJC management last week. Leonard Witt, from the Communications Dept. at Kennesaw State University, points out that not a single person from the AJC, from any department nor in any capacity, even bothered to show-up at SoCon07, Atlanta's first social media conference on February 10th.
Not one person showed from Atlanta's "traditional" media, not even a lone AJC reporter to cover the event as the new media enterprise that it was. (And yes, they were all invited.) Shit, we at SoCon07 had editorial and photos out to the entire planet during the freakin' conference, you clueless AJC nits. Video and podcasts were soon posted too. Yet the AJC in the now infamous "Wallace Memo" has the downright gall to claim:
“Online, we will show that we know Atlanta best, providing superlative news and information and becoming the preferred medium for connecting local communities.”
What planet are these people living on, other than Planet Head Up A Donkey's Ass!?!
As I mentioned on comments to the APC's blog (as of 2007, they now have a blog. Isn't that special?), that very thing has been happening online… for, oh, about 15 years now. Hope the charlatans at the AJC aren't too surprised if no one really WANTS to be associated with their “preferred medium.” We’ve built our own just fine by now, thank you very much, you old media clowns.
So don't go asking a blogger what the Semantic Web is all about. We're too busy moving forward to be slowed down and bothered by wannabees in MSM.
This post put together to Cuts You Up by Peter Murphy: "Look for what seems out of place."
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13 comments:
If I were the Coxes, I would cash out now while I could. Then I'd write a blog titled "how my myopic hires would have run my business into the ground had I stuck around long enough to give them the chance." Sounds like they'll get to write that from actual experience rather than hypothetical.
one word: HUBRIS and at their own peril. Andy Carvin has posted some videos of a meeting between NPR and new media luminaries (glaringly absent was Grayson so one wonders how productive the meeting actually was) where they spoke of cooperation and audience growth. Interesting stuff, but then NPR has always been way ahead of a lot of MSM.
Somebody from COXnet was registered for SoCon. I know because I saw his name on the list of registrants. My cube was near his office for a while when I worked there... he was very interested in the whole podcast thing, but he also used to pound his fist on the table in meetings and talk about how news organizations are the "gatekeepers" of the news.
What can you do.
Anyway, SG - you, Doug, and Rusty should definitely include this brouhaha as a central discussion point in your PodCamp session on new and old media! (Note: so far, no registrants from the AJC. A few CL folks, though.)
We had a really nice guy show up from the Anniston Star (yea, that paper from Alabama) and I did an interview with him which ran this past Saturday about SoCon07.
Classic newspaper approach: I tried to read the article and you can't get to it. None of the articles on their website are accessible unless you are a paid subscriber. Yea, that's right. You can read the headline and you have to be a paid subscriber to get in when you click. Is that freaking unbelievable or what?
There are still no AJC folks registered for PodCamp? Holy crap, they really piss on the driving march of progress even more than I do, huh? Sucks to be them.
i would've altered my comments had i known of the Peter Murphy accompaniment. just caught that ;-)
ATTICA! ATTICA!
What about Creative Loafing? The Sunday Paper? Or any of the lesser circ rags? What about radio? And any of the TV stations?
Guess cause it was free to attend, we didn't rate...
You would think, with the ever present need to fill column space, the AJC would at least send over some flunky.
Alas, they're befuddled as to the cause of their shrinking readership so the new media must really make their head hurt.
buzz:
Here's something to give you an idea of the way they work...
When I was at COXnet, I used to sit in meetings (where the aforementioned content director and others would pound their fists), and just shake my head while the old guys who'd been there since the 1970s speculated about how they could "get the younger demographic interested in the print product."
LOL.
Mike, Leonard has a nice wrap-up of media who DID attend SoCon07 here:
http://pjnet.org/weblogs/pjnettoday/archives/001468.html
And yes, CL did send someone, their IT person, but no reporter.
That's funny Amber. I guess those folks will keep on pushing their buggy whips.
Well you know, the COXnet offices are in a converted buggy factory. I shit you not.
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