The subject that will not die has reared itself again. So, if we don’t tax the Internet to pay for dead trees killed by a dying business model, and we don’t turn copyright law into an undead brain-eating zombie under the control of the RIAA, what do we do?
Well if our goal is simply the perpetuation of piles of largely unread newsprint and not actually the perpetuation of journalism or journalistic ethics, well why not simply charge lobbyists for access to the newsmakers and the journalists who cover them? What could possibly go wrong?
Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said today she was canceling plans for an exclusive “salon” at her home where for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to “those powerful few” — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors.
Now why would you cancel a sweet deal like that? Unless the brazen effort to prostitute the paper’s reputation had gone so far off the sleeze meter that it actually squicked out a Washington lobbyist enough for him to leak the pathetic plea to give the Post money. Apparently, the newsroom was not on board:
The flier circulated this morning came out of a business division for conferences and events, and the newsroom was unaware of such communication. It went out before it was properly vetted, and this draft does not represent what the company’s vision for these dinners are, which is meant to be an independent, policy-oriented event for newsmakers.
Well damn. There goes another promising business model. Good to know that the White House was not involved.
4 Comments
ryan Costa · July 5, 2009 at 7:49 am
These “dead media” business models continue to subsidize most of the content of the internet. Pornography and blogs most people don’t care about make up the rest.
Burn a years worth of newspapers. Now burn your desktop tower and monitor. which produces the most pollution. the power goes out: an old encyclopedia set or collection of popular mechanics magazines is much more useful to have around.
the most popular draw of computers and the internet for most consumers has been “free music”, pornography, and watching videos on youtube and the like.
the software monopolists continue to push “updates” on consumers that render their hardware obsolete. the hardware goes into the landfill, or it goes to china where peasants pick out the copper and rare metals in backyard rendering cauldrons. the big clouds of toxic waste from this hopefully dissipate before making it halfway back across the pacific ocean.
S Andrew Swann · July 5, 2009 at 12:30 pm
You have a surprisingly narrow view of the internet, both as a business opportunity and as a communications medium. I presume you’ve never bought anything on Amazon, used Skype for video chats, collaborated with anyone using Google Docs, used twitter for anything, never once gone to iTunes, listened to a podcast or found a free kitten on Craig’s List, used an on-line order form to get a order in for pickup from the local pizza joint, played WoW, or used a Linked-In profile to network with business associates. . .
Steve Buchheit · July 6, 2009 at 9:06 am
Ryan, I guess you’ve never actually visited a print shop or paper mill. I work in a commercial print shop and know all the crap we use here. And the environmental pollution (including our own exposure and what is on the paper) is down considerably from just a decade ago. And you never, ever, want to live downstream from a paper mill. That industry has also cleaned up it’s act, but you still don’t want to be there. As an aside, I live among the Amish, so I’ve seen the “world of no power” and I’ve gotta tell ya, 1) it ain’t pretty and 2) even the Amish are reliant on technology (in Ohio they, as a group, have the largest installed base of solar power in the state). So going into a holistic rant on the benefits of Ludditism is really quite out of touch.
ryan Costa · July 11, 2009 at 12:42 pm
electricity is great. federal and state regulations have proven necessary for coal plants to install exhaust filtering tech, and preventing inadequate nuclear power plant safeguards.
natural gas powered electrical generating stations are nice too.
there are many technologies for producing paper and then printing stuff on it without as much pollution. the industry consistently refused to impliment them and lobbied hard against pollution control. my copy of “the great outdoor fight” was printed in China.
World of War Craft combines the reality of an Opium Den with the behavior of a rat repeatedly pressing a button for a food pellet. at least, that is how I felt about myself after completing Secret of Mana, Lufia I, Lufia II, and river city ransom.
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