One thing that blows my mind is that my grandfather retired from a small newspaper and his pension paid out for 20 years after he retired. Most newspaper writers are reading that like Lisa seeing the Yahoo Serious festival on the Simpsons.
I saw you tweet the other day about having multiple outlets to cover specific things well rather than one outlet that covers everything in a mediocre fashion.
As someone who came of age with the internet (I found film drunk through WWTDD, facebook started my first year of college, my last year I joined Twitter, etc, etc, etc) it’s amazing to me that the same ghouls who ruined print media saw the popularity of the internet and did the same thing.
Same here. WWTDD and The Superficial kept me entertained during long hours as a computer lab attendant in grad school. RIP to both of them.
Still remember the incredible blow-by-blow (phrasing) one Superficial reader made in the comment thread for Farrah Abraham's porn video with James Deen. It disappeared from the internet and snarky commentary has never been the same.
Found that TheSuperficial commentary on the Teen Mom sex tape. The format's a bit messed up and it's not quite as good as I remember, but still pretty amazing.
My first job out of college was at the Baltimore Sun. This was a long time ago, and I remember being told that the newspaper was still employing a bunch of typesetters who were basically paid to sit around all day because everything was done digitally now but they had to be allowed to keep their jobs 'til retirement. (They were allegedly in some mysterious part of the building where I never ventured, so I can't guarantee the veracity of this anecdote.) Also, because the Sun's evening edition, the Evening Sun, had folded, everyone was convinced that the newspaper business was a dying industry. Little did they know just how bad it would get.
Personally, I would love more writers to band together and form worker-owned sites like defector.com, rather than all starting individual Substacks/newsletters.
A tenet of my worldview is that things have always been dumb and bad, so thinking things are worse now is fatalistic (during the pandemic I tried to remember that my great grandparents raised toddlers during WWI).
However, I find it hard to argue that *some* things aren't objectively worse, and media is maybe item number one.
Fuck, this is well done. I'm also a former ink-stained wretch, and while I wasn't much of a "news" guy -- I spent most of my career as a feather-light features writer* -- I still feel the loss of journalism. I thought it couldn't get worse, but my god, the Sunday Chicago Tribune -- which used to be as thick as the India phone book -- takes about 20 minutes to read. (And we're the only people on the block who still get the paper edition.) Between that and AI and deepfake videos (people, that shit is going to get BAD), I really wonder where this is going.
*Hey, I sat two feet away from Diane Lane and interviewed her -- guess I shouldn't complain too much.
The Winnipeg Free Press is the only large(ish) independently owned daily in Canada, and it's barely making it. I subscribe in large part because I'm a middle class person who wants there to be *somebody* reporting on local news, but man it's not a good feeling to be half pity-subscribing.
This quote "The media business seems so fundamentally broken in a way that’s plain to everyone, that building a new one — a subscription-based model with readers directly supporting writers and worker-owned collectives replacing shiny, venture capital-driven clickmills" reminds me of someone mentioning a bajillion years ago what killed newspapers was craigslist; and that was the dirty secret, the Classifieds were the profit margin and the subscription fee was actually not enough to float the paper. Maybe this was only important for hyperlocal papers? I'm curious if you ever heard that or experienced that? How I had I mapped in my head was Classifieds died, small papers died over time and then the ad based clickbait stuff eventually was a necessity, nevermind subscription revenue largely went away because of the internet.
Agree. I own a small business and my local newspaper wants to charge me $1,500 for a half page ad on page 16 (underneath the cat stuck up a tree story). I’d need to rely on the right person to pick up that free paper on the right day and hope they turn to the right page and then hope they jump on a computer and follow the link. Or I can just pay Zuckerberg 10% of that and have it targeted right down the hole of the piggy’s that were after. It’s not a hard choice, unfortunately.
Years ago, Michael Jordan sued a local grocery chain that used his image in a newspaper ad without his ok.* The thing that struck me was, even back then, it came out that l like 8 people who used the coupon. And this was when newspapers were still kind of a thing!
*He won, which was ridiculous but predetermined when he testified in person in front a jury of Chicagoans.
"The classified ads (and stock-market quotations) are the bedrock of the press. Should an alternative source of easy access to such diverse daily information be found, the press will fold." -Marshall McLuhan, 1987
One of the only reasons I'm still on Twitter is because it's the only (both those words said with fifteen quotation marks around them) reliable and comprehensive aggregate of culture writers and entertainment news. It's why I can't wait for whatever collective website arises in its place, because when it's gone, what's left?
Amazing work Vince, thank you for putting into words what so many people are feeling. Roth and Defector.com are a great reference, they're doing things right over there and I'd gladly pay for a version of that with all the good, original Uproxx folks, bring back Matt included.
I can eulogize Uproxx for you but you're not going to like it.
GQ, The Ringer AND the BBC? I'm not sure how ethical it is to steal one of your mom's credits.
Well done.
That took me a moment but worth it.
Incredible mom jokes has always been one area where Vince commenters delivered better than anyone else on the internet.
Gottem
One thing that blows my mind is that my grandfather retired from a small newspaper and his pension paid out for 20 years after he retired. Most newspaper writers are reading that like Lisa seeing the Yahoo Serious festival on the Simpsons.
I saw you tweet the other day about having multiple outlets to cover specific things well rather than one outlet that covers everything in a mediocre fashion.
As someone who came of age with the internet (I found film drunk through WWTDD, facebook started my first year of college, my last year I joined Twitter, etc, etc, etc) it’s amazing to me that the same ghouls who ruined print media saw the popularity of the internet and did the same thing.
Hey I found Filmdrunk through WWTDD too. I forget the guy's name (Brandon maybe?) but he was legitimately hilarious. RIP.
Brendon
Samesies
Same here. WWTDD and The Superficial kept me entertained during long hours as a computer lab attendant in grad school. RIP to both of them.
Still remember the incredible blow-by-blow (phrasing) one Superficial reader made in the comment thread for Farrah Abraham's porn video with James Deen. It disappeared from the internet and snarky commentary has never been the same.
Found that TheSuperficial commentary on the Teen Mom sex tape. The format's a bit messed up and it's not quite as good as I remember, but still pretty amazing.
http://www.thesuperficial.com/farrah-abraham-sex-tape-review-backdoor-teen-mom-05-2013
Fantastic piece. I am worried about that fire, though.
Just a phenomenal read sir.
My first job out of college was at the Baltimore Sun. This was a long time ago, and I remember being told that the newspaper was still employing a bunch of typesetters who were basically paid to sit around all day because everything was done digitally now but they had to be allowed to keep their jobs 'til retirement. (They were allegedly in some mysterious part of the building where I never ventured, so I can't guarantee the veracity of this anecdote.) Also, because the Sun's evening edition, the Evening Sun, had folded, everyone was convinced that the newspaper business was a dying industry. Little did they know just how bad it would get.
Personally, I would love more writers to band together and form worker-owned sites like defector.com, rather than all starting individual Substacks/newsletters.
GREAT piece! Everything is off to hell in a handbasket with all these rich guys and robots in charge.
A tenet of my worldview is that things have always been dumb and bad, so thinking things are worse now is fatalistic (during the pandemic I tried to remember that my great grandparents raised toddlers during WWI).
However, I find it hard to argue that *some* things aren't objectively worse, and media is maybe item number one.
I guess Bret was right all those years ago, we've been robofucked.
I can't even remember all the specific things that cause it, but "the internet was a mistake" pops into my head at least a few times a year.
It's been repeated but that is the first time I had heard it. Genius.
Fuck, this is well done. I'm also a former ink-stained wretch, and while I wasn't much of a "news" guy -- I spent most of my career as a feather-light features writer* -- I still feel the loss of journalism. I thought it couldn't get worse, but my god, the Sunday Chicago Tribune -- which used to be as thick as the India phone book -- takes about 20 minutes to read. (And we're the only people on the block who still get the paper edition.) Between that and AI and deepfake videos (people, that shit is going to get BAD), I really wonder where this is going.
*Hey, I sat two feet away from Diane Lane and interviewed her -- guess I shouldn't complain too much.
The Winnipeg Free Press is the only large(ish) independently owned daily in Canada, and it's barely making it. I subscribe in large part because I'm a middle class person who wants there to be *somebody* reporting on local news, but man it's not a good feeling to be half pity-subscribing.
This quote "The media business seems so fundamentally broken in a way that’s plain to everyone, that building a new one — a subscription-based model with readers directly supporting writers and worker-owned collectives replacing shiny, venture capital-driven clickmills" reminds me of someone mentioning a bajillion years ago what killed newspapers was craigslist; and that was the dirty secret, the Classifieds were the profit margin and the subscription fee was actually not enough to float the paper. Maybe this was only important for hyperlocal papers? I'm curious if you ever heard that or experienced that? How I had I mapped in my head was Classifieds died, small papers died over time and then the ad based clickbait stuff eventually was a necessity, nevermind subscription revenue largely went away because of the internet.
Agree. I own a small business and my local newspaper wants to charge me $1,500 for a half page ad on page 16 (underneath the cat stuck up a tree story). I’d need to rely on the right person to pick up that free paper on the right day and hope they turn to the right page and then hope they jump on a computer and follow the link. Or I can just pay Zuckerberg 10% of that and have it targeted right down the hole of the piggy’s that were after. It’s not a hard choice, unfortunately.
Years ago, Michael Jordan sued a local grocery chain that used his image in a newspaper ad without his ok.* The thing that struck me was, even back then, it came out that l like 8 people who used the coupon. And this was when newspapers were still kind of a thing!
*He won, which was ridiculous but predetermined when he testified in person in front a jury of Chicagoans.
"The classified ads (and stock-market quotations) are the bedrock of the press. Should an alternative source of easy access to such diverse daily information be found, the press will fold." -Marshall McLuhan, 1987
Uhhhh, you aren't in Chicago, are you? Because I used to say that exact thing re: the dirty little secret and Craigslist.
Nah, I think it was basically Nationwide in the US; honestly can't remember where I heard it from but it was an "Ah ha" moment though when I did.
Another great chapter for your book.
Fab piece, real crystalised sense of a (bad) historical shift happening.
One of the only reasons I'm still on Twitter is because it's the only (both those words said with fifteen quotation marks around them) reliable and comprehensive aggregate of culture writers and entertainment news. It's why I can't wait for whatever collective website arises in its place, because when it's gone, what's left?
Amazing work Vince, thank you for putting into words what so many people are feeling. Roth and Defector.com are a great reference, they're doing things right over there and I'd gladly pay for a version of that with all the good, original Uproxx folks, bring back Matt included.