Media

By Ryan Holiday 5/14 3:31pm

Off the Media

offthemedia-1

The Jenna Marbles Paradox: Why Are YouTube Videos So Terrible?

It’s been nearly 7 years since YouTube first launched its “Partners Program,” a platform for YouTube creators that gives them a portion of revenue made on their videos, and nearly two years since Google invested more than $100M in YouTube content producers. Despite this financial influx, the quality of content on YouTube has stagnated somewhere between “awful” and “downright terrible.”

Call it the Jenna Marbles paradox, after the top YouTuber profiled in the New York Times earlier this year who, after more than one billion views and millions earned in ad revenue, still makes some of the most amateur videos you can imagine. As she put it, she makes “more money than I need, ever” and yet, if you had no idea who she was and watched one of her million-views-plus videos, you’d think this was the first time she’d ever turned on a video camera.

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By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 5/14 11:26am

Women's Health

Angelina Jolie. (Photo credit: Patrick McMullan).

Angelina Jolie Steals Christine Quinn’s Thunder in The New York Times

Mayoral candidate Christine Quinn, in an attempt to “try to soften her often rough-edged political image,” according to The New York Times, called up and gave The Grey Lady a big scoop: as a young woman, she struggled with bulimia and alcoholism.

But despite Ms. Quinn’s best efforts to win the news cycle, she couldn’t have known that she was up against Angelina Jolie, who unveiled big news of her own in an Op-Ed, that also ran in today’s Times, discussing her decision to undergo a preventative double mastectomy. Ms. Jolie wrote that she possesses a gene, BRCA1, that puts her at a high risk for ovarian and breast cancer. Read More

By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 5/13 4:16pm

Department of Complaints

T Magazine (Photo credit: The New York Times).

T Magazine Criticized For Thin Cover Model

The summer travel issue of T, the Times‘s luxury magazine that was included in this Sunday’s paper, drew some reader criticism, public editor Margaret Sullivan noted today in a blog post.

The cover showed a rather slender model dressed in a lace one piece, with wet hair and a leather jacket slung over one shoulder and the accompanying feature, which was a round-up of models in black bathing suits and  leather cover ups, promoted readers to declare the model too thin and too young, and the feature too bondadge-y. Read More

By Colin Campbell 5/13 2:10pm

Media Mayor

Mayor Bloomberg. (Photo: Getty)

Bloomberg Declines to Comment on Bloomberg News Snooping Allegations

Earlier today, Mayor Michael Bloomberg repeatedly refused to comment on accusations that his media organization, Bloomberg News, improperly accessed information about subscribers of the firm’s financial data service.

“No, I can’t say anything. I have an agreement with the Conflicts of Interest Board. You’ll have to talk to the company,” Mr. Bloomberg replied when first asked about the controversy at a press conference in Brooklyn, insisting that city rules prohibit him from weighing in. Read More

By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 5/10 12:00pm

Foxholes

Joe Muto (Photo via Facebook).

‘Fox News Mole’ Joe Muto Had His Day in Court

Joe Muto, a former producer on the O’Reilly Factor who wrote anonymous posts for Gawker about Fox News until he was nabbed and fired from the network, pled guilty yesterday in Manhattan Criminal Court to two misdemeanor charges–attempted unlawful duplication of computer related material and attempted criminal possession of computer-related material.

As part of his plea deal, Mr. Muto was fined $1,000, agreed to give his $5,000 Gawker fee to Reel Works, a  free filmmaking project for New York teens, and sentenced to 10 days and an additional 200 hours of community service. Read More

By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 5/09 2:42pm

Newspapers

Village Voice

Editors Quit The Village Voice Rather Than Lay Off More Staffers

The Village Voice‘s editor in chief Will Bourne and deputy editor Jessica Lustig met with staff late this morning to announce they are leaving the paper rather than lay off any more of their already skeletal staff, The New York Times reported.

Voice Media Group executive editor Christine Brennan had told Mr. Bourne and Ms. Lustig that they would have to eliminate or drastically reduce five of the 20 postions at the paper. Read More

By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 5/09 8:17am

Magazines

Troy Young. (Photo credit: Hearst).

Troy Young Named Head of Digital Media at Hearst

As part of Hearst’s push towards digital, Troy Young will become the head of digital media, Hearst President David Carey announced today. In the newly created Mr. Young will oversee the digital content, technology, operations, revenue, product and business development strategies for the magazine division’s 26 online brands. 

“He’s incredibly strategic and will bring the Read More