When snark attacks: AOL and the fight for editorial independence

[Renew Deal]

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Today's post centers on a silly feud between bickering members of the big, new dysfunctional AOL family -- TechCrunch and Moviefone -- now under the viselike embrace of headmistress Arianna Huffington. But it's also about who owns the news and what can happen as a result.
<snip>

Tsostis did a video interview with the star of the film (Jake Gyllenhaal) and wrote a brief, less-than-reverent blog post about how the movie is being marketed to geeks, including an unbelievably silly Facebook "game" the studio concocted to promote the film.

The movie studio, Summit Entertainment, didn't like Tsostis's post. Summit contacted AOL's Moviefone, which had arranged for the blogger to view the film and spend quality time with movie hunks, and asked Moviefone to convey its displeasure. Tsostis received the following email:
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The media -- or what's left of it -- is rapidly morphing into just another public relations firm for mega-corporations. And if you see me at Starbucks, please take pity and leave a nice tip. I'll need it for my retirement.

http://www.infoworld.com/t/cringely/when-snark-attacks-aol-and-the-fight-editorial-independence-724

[Chimichurri]

1. Excellent read. This

"Except that the who-owns-the-media-and-what-happens issue is much larger than that. Take, for example, the latest Pew Research study, which revealed something that shocked even your cynical correspondent: 7 of the 25 largest newspapers in the country are owned by hedge funds.

How has that influenced coverage? During the previous decade, dozens of Wall Street execs pocketed billions by pushing securities they knew were worthless, drove hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes, and nearly bankrupted our entire economy -- yet not one of them has spent a single day in prison. Ever wonder why? Maybe because there weren't any newspaper editorials calling for their heads. That might be one reason."

is the exact sentiment I've been wondering about. Now Breitbart gets to blog over at HuffPo. Wasn't his ideology and approach to fictionalizing news the reason Arianna started that blog to begin with? I guess she had a price.


Great link - thanks for posting it!