The new media and the editorial wall
March 4, 2016 6:33 AM   Subscribe

Vox, buzzfeed, Vice, even Cracked are part of a new ka-tet of internet journalism. Some showing success by doing both click-bait listicles and actual investigative journalism WashPost talks about problems between advertisers and what stories get covered at Vice (SlWashPo)
posted by k5.user (19 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is nothing new. Traditional media has also pulled different kind of sketchy stunts in the name of advertising. Time magazine did put that funky iMac on its cover, and have relied on filler such as lists, fawning profiles, and reviews, let alone using advertorials and VNRs. They have reprinted press releases whole, and allowed publicists and PR companies to dictate the terms of coverage and interviews.

The only difference is old media hid it and new media haven't been so savvy at it.
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 6:51 AM on March 4, 2016 [5 favorites]


"ka-tet"? Googling reveals "a word from the High Speech meaning "a group of people summoned by ka" that usually refers to Roland's ka-tet in the Dark Tower series."

So, what's the meaning in this context?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:53 AM on March 4, 2016 [5 favorites]


It's been a while since I last attempted an ascent of the Dark Tower series, but IIRC it's a mystical-destiny sort of thing, where people working separately and unaware of each other across space and time are actually crucial parts of a powerful team. King probably nicked it from Vonnegut's concept of karass from Cat's Cradle.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:14 AM on March 4, 2016 [4 favorites]


"ka" in that series was a word that meant "destiny" but also with connotations of "obligation". Something like Vonnegut's "karass" in Cat's Cradle.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:14 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


Whoa, one of us owes the other a Coke.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:16 AM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


Another argument, if one were needed, for public service journalism independent of advertising revenue. As ninety years of the BBC has shown, this is not without its own intractable problems, but at least they're a different set of problems - so you get the benefits of diversity rather than sanctity.
posted by Devonian at 7:17 AM on March 4, 2016 [6 favorites]


ka-tet, a group together on a similar mission. Kind of like the cabal, only there is no cabal.
posted by k5.user at 7:23 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


WapPo itself has been dipping a toe in the clickbait cesspool with its right-side-of-the-page links, including but not limited to classic "You won't believe" and "See the banned thing" and "This mom figured out how..". It's really depressing to see them trying it out, and I know that in the meeting rooms, lack of strong user objection is counted as user acceptance, meaning they're here to stay. Very depressing to see them stoop like that.

(Oddly enough, they don't have any rank clickbait headlines up at the time of this writing. I am not crazy.)
posted by sidereal at 7:55 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


Old media's high horse is, upon sidelong inspection, actually a very frail and underfed pony.
posted by chavenet at 7:55 AM on March 4, 2016 [7 favorites]


Vice has always been pretty gross (e.g. the rank classism and misogyny the magazine's old "Do's and Don'ts" street fashion feature) , so it comes as little surprise to me to learn that they play fast and loose with journalistic ethics.

What I do find kind of surprising though, is the apparent rush here to excuse Vice's behavior because "old media does it too they just hide it," which, whether true or not, has nothing to do with the actual content of the linked story.
posted by dersins at 8:02 AM on March 4, 2016 [3 favorites]


"ka" in that series was a word that meant "destiny" but also with connotations of "obligation". Something like Vonnegut's "karass" in Cat's Cradle.

A lot about the Dark Tower books clicks in to place when you realize that the second half of the series is a story about stories, and "ka" = "plot".

In that case, a ka-tet is the Group of Main Characters - your Fellowship, your Scooby Gang. I've never seen it used outside of the Dark Tower books like this, but I like it and I think we should use it more.
posted by Itaxpica at 8:17 AM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


dersins: "excuse Vice's behavior because "old media does it too they just hide it,""

I'm not excusing Vice, I'm calling out "old" media for latent (or blatant) hypocrisy / carping. (Though it must be said the WaPo has cleaner hands than most when it comes to corporate interests, less so when it comes to politics.)
posted by chavenet at 8:31 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm fascinated by the congealing of the 'new' media. Ezra Klein's newish podcast from 3/1, wherein he interviewed political scientist Theda Skocpol, ended with the subject praising the host as 'one of the good ones' in Explainer Journalism. I arched an eyebrow, as, being a fan of what could be called explainer journalism, this was yet the first I'd heard of the term - I did google searches and, holy crap it is a thing.
posted by eclectist at 8:34 AM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


eclectist: "the congealing of the 'new' media."

This. It's weird but not unexpected that after all what the new media wants above all else is to be the old media.
posted by chavenet at 8:43 AM on March 4, 2016




That just means that I'm exceptionally behind the times.
posted by eclectist at 9:25 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


Surprised that article allows Buzzfeed to just tout its journalistic ethics unquestioned given its past issues.

Really, though, nothing in this story seems particularly unique to "new media."

I'll also go on the record as saying I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with "clickbait" headlines (or listicles!) so long as they are accurate and on top of good journalism. Media outlets have always written headlines and presented stories in ways that will grab readers' attention and get them to buy a paper/keep reading.
posted by retrograde at 9:32 AM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


I don't know that Vice now ought to be defined by the Vice of Gavin McInnes (who is awful). Not that there's nothing to criticize about Vice now.
posted by atoxyl at 10:07 AM on March 4, 2016


All I know is that Vice is one of the few news outlets that seriously covers political protests in the UK (The Guardian et al sometimes cover the extremely large ones in a sort of desultory fashion). No, they are not a perfectly pure media organisation. But I also don't think it suffices to be all 'ugh Vice' and go back to reading your trad media or getting all your news from Twitter.
posted by Acheman at 3:01 AM on March 5, 2016


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