GIVE A SHOUT TO WORD UP! wordup@papermag.com
Entries tagged with 'Media'
Posted Jun. 26, 2008,
Outsourcing the News: Not the Best Idea
By Rebecca Carroll
A CNBC story reported today that in an effort to stand out amid the ever-struggling newspaper business, the Orange County Register will outsource some page layout and copyediting duties to India. Can I say that I think this is probably the most ungodly, exceptionally bad idea ever? Although it's reported that the outsourcing will start on a trial basis, why even do that? How does this make sense? How does this help? I have to be honest, I've never really understood the whole outsourcing business -- apart from it's crude and shameless reality: let's get other people to do it for cheaper.
Journalism, hobbling along as it is on its one good (or somewhat good) remaining foot, is about work, good old fashioned get-your-hands-dirty work -- asking the questions, going the distance, following leads, cultivating authentic relationships and ideas. And of all things to outsource, copyediting? Have you ever spent 45 minutes on the phone with a Dell representative in India? At least outsource restaurant reviews or culture pages or art news -- something that might make sense to ask someone from India to contribute to a regional paper out of Orange County. Something that might actually make a regional paper stand out.
Posted Aug. 29, 2007,
Perez Hilton Stands by His "Castro Is Dead" Story
By David Hershkovits
Recently gossipist Perez Hilton reported that Fidel Castro was dead. With his millions of readers, the word spread as everyone anticipated confirmation from Washington, Cuba or the media that this was indeed the case. Alas, not only hasn't the news been confirmed but Castro has penned an editorial for a Cuban newspaper about the unbeatable prospects of a potential Clinton-Obama ticket.
When I asked Perez about this he responded: "I stand by my story 100 percent. I can guarantee you will not see him out and about walking the streets of Havana before the Cuban government officially announces his death. However long it takes them, a week, a month or a year. But between now and then, he won't be seen in public because he's dead. I have this from government sources. I feel confident that I'm right. He hasn’t been seen in public in a year and he won't be. He allegedly continues to write these essays and I wouldn’t be surprised if a video pops up in the future but that video could have been shot whenever."
Posted Jun. 8, 2007,
Paris Hilton's Bad Hair Day
By David Hershkovits
Oh, the ups and downs of being a media plaything. Watching the Paris Hilton story play out gives me the willies. If nothing else this girl will not go away. Every time we seem ready to consign her to the dustbin of history, she manages to come back stronger than ever. What begins as a minor infraction that gets most people a slap on the wrist ends up a major media story covered around the world. As the London Times reports:
News channels abandoned all coverage of the G8 summit, before reluctantly tearing themselves away from the live coverage of Hilton’s front door to report, briefly, that America’s top general had resigned. And now back to the “breaking news” on Paris Hilton, where an excited TV reporter was pointing out the expensive homes of nearby celebrities such as Rod Stewart and Britney Spears, adding: “Some of the houses date back to the 1920s!
Since you asked... I think it's reprehensible that the justice system lets itself be manipulated this way. Maybe they made a mistake in releasing her at first, but it was done. Is it fair to then bring her back to jail? I think not.
Posted May. 18, 2007,
Post's Page Six Scadalizes Itself
By David Hershkovits
Today the New York Post's widely read Page Six covers itself in the growing Page Six scandal. With the threat of a law suit by the former contributor Jared Paul Stern looming over its head, the Post decided to preempt the story before any of its competitors -- most specifically the Daily News with whom they are waging a fierce circulation war -- got their hands on a four-page list of embarrassing allegations about former Post colleagues that Stern is prepared to make public.
Instead, it appears as though the Post has made it public for him, running it prominently in today's edition under the headline -- "Lies and Smears Aimed At Post." (What's the saying about the pot and the kettle...) Stern, you will remember, was investigated (and subsequently cleared) by the FBI after looking into accusations of extortion filed by Bill-Clinton-crony/supermarket mogul Ron Burkle who had set up a sting operation to trap Stern. Calling him a "rogue former freelancer" at Page Six, the Post goes on to list chapter and verse of the email that was written by Ian Spiegelman, another former Page Sixer, who was fired by the paper three years ago.
Posted May. 11, 2007,
Being Black in New York Magazine
By Rebecca Carroll
The May 14 issue of New York magazine offers up the second story in a row featuring a formerly down on his luck, under the radar black man who by some great feat or just general perseverance suddenly becomes newsworthy. The story in the May 7 issue is about the “Subway Superman,” Wesley Autry, who jumped in front of an oncoming subway to save the life of a stranger, and has since received national praise, recognition, money, and expensive clothes (the story was illustrated in part by a picture of Wesley dressed head to toe in fur looking every bit like the pimp next door). The May 14 story, “The Panhandler's Payday,” is about Eddie Wise, a hustler who figured out a way to sue the city of New York, and won a check for $100,000. The story is furnished with a pull quote that reads: “Everybody is thinking I'm going to be broke pretty soon, that I'm going to spend $100,00 on crack,” says Eddie. And by everybody, he might as well mean people who read New York magazine.
I have been a subscriber to New York for over 10 years, and despite its clear elitism and consistently I'm-cooler-than-you-whiter-than-you-and-richer-than-you tone, I enjoy it. And I'm a complete sucker for its crossword puzzle. But these two back-to-back stories about poor, unknown black people who emerge from relative anonymity to become interesting enough for the pages of New York magazine have made me question my willingness to continue turning a blind eye to its blatant patronization.
Posted Apr. 27, 2007,
Phil Spector's Wall of Bodyguards
By Ann Magnuson
I don't think anyone can put it better than The Washington Post did in Thursday's article, "A Noir Opening to Phil Spector Murder Trial":
Another creepy and sad celebrity murder trial began here (in L.A.) Wednesday morning as the troubled genius and record producer Phil Spector appeared before jurors in a courtroom down the hall from the one where O.J. Simpson was tried and acquitted.
The 67-year-old diminutive musicmaker arrived wearing a blond wig cut in a pageboy style, dressed in a cream-colored suit with a cranberry shirt open at the collar and a matching pocket handkerchief. He was accompanied by three burly bodyguards in pinstripes.
Spector's natty Saturday Night Fever outfit stood in stark contrast to the sordid and bloody facts being laid out in court. You can read all about it at the L.A. Times' ongoing Spector trial BLOG (Bookmark it now!). Ugh. Ick. Ew. Yuk. But can we turn our attentions away to something more lofty? Doubtful. Just wait till this tidbit from The Smoking Gun get's aired out for the jury (and media):
Posted Apr. 23, 2007,
Eight Items or Less: Kate Moss, Pete Doherty and Ryan McGinley Get Down
By Carol Lee
1. Who would be in your dream threesome? According to the rumor mill, heartthrob photographer Ryan McGinley just shot Kate Moss and BF Pete Doherty nude for the upcoming issue of W.
2. Art stars of today Elizabeth Peyton, Tony Just, Maurizio Cattalan, Dan Colen, Cecily Brown and Clarissa Dalrymple all came out for the Turner Prize winner Brit Jim Lambie's opening at Anton Kern Gallery last Thursday.
3. Fergie's lady humps were caught in high-waisted body-squeezing jeans by Judi Rosen of downtown boutique The Good, The Bad and The Ugly as reported by the fashion bible In Touch.
4. Vogue's Alexandra Kotur has a tough job of deciding who makes Style.com's Ten Best Dressed List each week. Look who made the cut last week!
1) Kirsten Dunst
2) Chloe Sevigny
3) Miuccia Prada
4) Coco Rocha
5) Doo-Ri Chung
6) Lisa Airan
7) Hilary Rhoda
8) Camilla Belle
9) Lauren DuPont
10) Demi Moore
5. Name Change: On a more, delicate note... Over this weekend, when rendering the Virginia Tech shooter's name, The New York Times decided to go by Seung-Hui Cho, rather than the easternized-style Cho Seung-Hui, which has been the official name used by the media world-wide since the release of his identity. There have been many whispers on the Internet among sensitive Korean-Americans about this uncouth placement of his surname.
Posted Apr. 19, 2007,
Terrorist Cho Seung-Hui's Multimedia Manifesto
By David Hershkovits
A madman has struck and left a trail that tells one of the most frightening stories that we've heard in a long time. It's a story that we don't want to hear which is why Cho Seung-Hui, America's home-grown suicide bomber, chose this way of telling it. Devoid of any meaningful social contact on the campus of Virginia Tech or elsewhere, he became a cypher of a world without love. Like the terrorist Muslim suicide bombers of the Middle East, he leaves a multimedia manifesto of words, photos (the one of above, of bullets, is by Cho) and videos as a final testament. He speaks of the "martyrs," uses the name "A Ishmael," rails against "hedonism" and makes reference to 911, Osama, Kim Jung II, Hummer and Bush. Though what he says can scare your pants off, the student who couldn't connect with anyone communicates beautifully with the camera. We know all this about Cho because he took the time to shoot, edit and Express Mail it all to NBC. (MSNBC has done an incredible job covering this and has been releasing pages and visuals from the manifesto.)
Cho's Multimedia Manifesto leaves behind a treasure trove of material for experts to rummage over in the coming years as they try -- with 20/20 hindsight -- to understand what motivated this young man to do such a horrible act. I expect that anyone as proficient with multimedia tools as Cho, and as talented an artist, will have many more writings, drawings and videos stashed away in his hard drive.
On the day of the shooting I was on the phone with Jon Savage, the British author of Teenage, a monumental book of cultural history that traces the creation of youth culture. When I mentioned the events at Virginia Tech to him he said, “Remember, your country and my country are at war in Iraq. When you’re at war it hits people in a weird way, especially young people. When the top guy is waging war and acting like a big bully, it’s going to make a difference. Kids pick up on this. But they don’t have the wherewithal of adults who learn how to handle it.” Given Cho's multimedia handiwork and the numerous allusions to the Middle East in his video, Savage's comments -- made before anything was known about the killer -- seem more prescient than ever.
Posted Apr. 18, 2007,
To Be a Korean-American After the Virginia Tech Nightmare
By Carol Lee
By yesterday morning the whole world knew the guy behind the beyond-tragic shootings at Virginia Tech. Every headline read that the killer was "a 23-year-old student from South Korea." And then it was cemented forever that he was a loner. While it is legally correct that Cho Seung-Hui was a Korean native, a resident alien in the U.S. and a South Korean immigrant (all descriptions used by the media), many of the articles made it out as though he had just come off the boat last week -- when in fact he was a mere 8-year-old when his family emigrated to the U.S. None of these facts excuse the monstrosity of his murderous act -- though beyond his green card status, he was a seriously disturbed social-outcast.
I feel like the media is not owning up to the fact that he was more or less a common law American. They're emphasizing his foreignness in order to further demonize a murderer who is already dead. And for what purpose? To perpetuate a racial backlash and deepen the remorse and paranoia that already exist among the Korean-American community? (nytimes.com has been flooded with comments by Koreans all over the world expressing apologies and regrets.)
Like so many, I've been freaked out, haunted and saddened by the nightmare at Virginia Tech. I've been following the news closely since the moment I first heard it on jetBlue en route from North Carolina (it's a weird thing to hear the biggest breaking news while on an airplane -- it had never happened to me before.) Later that night back in New York, my obsession with following the news grew even more when I found out that the suspect was an Asian male. After hitting many global news sites, I came across this unsettling photo (above) in the UK's Daily Mail of an Asian man on the VT campus being handcuffed. I was confused because I had thought that the gunman had killed himself after the rampage. I hope nothing happened to this guy. I see him and I see the faces of my own friends, cousins and brother. And I hope that we don't lose sight of the real issues at hand here.
Posted Apr. 16, 2007,
The Chitlin’ Circuit?
By Rebecca Carroll
The problem with having a prestigious team of high profile black scholars and smarty britches curate a traveling exhibition showcasing the contributions of black folk in America is that a whole bunch of them will invariably approach such an endeavor with the intention, as worded in the New York Times today, “to attract African-Americans who do not regularly attend museums.” OK, first of all, who, black or white, regularly attends museums? Sure, if you’re a regular museum attendee you’d probably get really excited by a first edition of Phyllis Wheatley’s 1773 book of poetry presented behind glass or velvet ropes—but if you’re not, and again, most of us are not, then from the outset, this whole idea sounds like a vanity project.
Those “who do not regularly attend museums” is merely another polite way to talk and write about our poor, struggling black folks left desolate in the margins. Tavis Smiley (pictured above), the author and TV/radio personality who came up with the idea, is smart and enthusiastic and a sincere presence in the black community -- I like him (we’ve never met personally but know many of the same people in publishing and media). I applaud his efforts, and I do think he is in touch with generations of black Americans outside of his own. But is a museum exhibition (traveling or stationary) really the way to build a bridge between Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (predictably a member of the exhibition’s advisory board) and Tamika Shanique Ruth Jones in central Oakland?
The Times story listed (in addition to the Wheatley volume) a few other items the road show is set to display, among them the gloves Muhammad Ali wore when he knocked out Sonny Liston, a pressing comb used to straighten kinky hair, and MLK’s Nobel prize. Interesting choices, fine. But how about an interactive exhibit whereupon members of the elite advisory board -- Toni Morrison, Anna Deveare Smith, Cornel West -- actually bring the selected items to schools, colleges, and town halls across the country and then give small group tutorials about the items’ significance? As a young brown girl growing up in rural New Hampshire, I would have been inspired and delighted by such a thing—but most of all, I would have felt known by one or two of these highly regarded and well positioned black Americans who are ceremoniously chosen to represent us all. And that would have taken me a long way.
If the intention of this project is to attract those who don’t usually go to museums, I’m not sure curating a museum exhibition is the way to do it.
Posted Apr. 10, 2007,
Mourning Imus
By David Hershkovits
Shock jock Don Imus has been suspended for two weeks from his highly rated show because his mouth got the best of him. Calling the members of Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy headed hos," Imus had crossed the line that not even allowing Rev. Al Sharpton to humiliate him could fix. That cowboy-hatted bumpkin pose is clearly not working anymore for Washington's favorite radio host. That said, I don't think suspending him is the way to go. It removes the responsibility to take a stand away from the media elite and beltway politicans whose appearances on the Imus show lend credence to the otherwise mundane musings of pseudo hicks.
Now that the onus has been removed, the mediaocracy can eagerly await their invitation to appear with the chastised Imus. With justice served, they can obsequiously pick up where they left off free of facing their moral responsibility. They have lucked out and sidestepped the question altogether. The true test would have been to see how the Imus dittoheads reacted when the mask of showbiz was pulled away. Would they continue to appear on the show? Or take a stand on principle and refuse? We'll never know. Instead, they'll come back and Imus will be a bigger star than ever. Somewhat like Britney's rushed rehab, you can expect to see Imus here again before too long.
Posted Mar. 10, 2007,
Mountaineers Are Always Free -- to Tote Firearms
By Ann Magnuson
I love that the Paper of Record has written about West Virginia University's mascot the Mountaineer! I guess the New York Times thought there should have been more scrutiny by security at Madison Square Garden when WVU -- and their gun-totin', buckskin-clad, coonskin-cap wearing mascot -- participated in the Big East Conference men's basketball tournament.
Growing up in West Virginia and attending more than a few WVU sports events, the biggest thrill was seeing the Mountaineer run onto the football field (or basketball court) and shoot his musket during a touchdown! The Mountaineer just uses gunpowder, no projectiles, and the practice of shooting the gun off during road games was stopped after Sept. 11 gave everyone the jitters. I suppose some Jihadist could sneak in as the Mountaineer. The seniors who are voted in for the honor usually grow a beard for the year they serve as mascot. But that accent would be a dead giveaway! No one outside Billy Bob Thorton can do a credible hillbilly accent!
Posted Mar. 8, 2007,
Bald Truth
By David Hershkovits
I began shaving my head before Michael Jordan did, but it's true, as the New York Times notes today, that the look didn't take off until Jordan did it. I often wondered how Jordan's image would have fared had he not shaved his head, choosing instead to let his hairline recede further and further until disappearing altogether. His moves might have still elicited gasps of awe, but would he have sold as many Nikes?
In the story, "The New Niche: Hair Care for Men Without," we are told of the trials and tribulations of this growing segment of the male demographic. There are gels and ointments to help with the shave, to enhance the shine, to reduce the glare, to help with dryness or oiliness, to block the sun. There’s even a rolling razor to make the daily upkeep less stressful. Bald Guyz, Control Bald Head Balm, Bold for Men, Head Wipes and Matte for Men are some of the products now crowding the shelves of your local Duane Reade.
Little did we know there was such concern for this previously neglected minority. Actually, it was Russell Simmons who first encouraged me to take it all off. We'd subsequently run into each other and he'd tell me how great I looked -- of course, I believe him. He also turned me on to the Gilette Mach3 razor, swearing that it was the innovation of the century for men like us. Most after shave lotions have alcohol, which makes it quite painful to splash all over ones pate. Instead, I use alcohol-free aloe. There's a tip you won't find in the Times.
Posted Mar. 7, 2007,
Faggot -- The New F Word
By David Hershkovits
Writing in the Washington Post and from his prominent perch on CNN, Howard Kurtz is arguably the most powerful press critic in the country. Yet when he's covering one of the hottest stories of the day -- Ann Coulter's outspoken homophobia -- he can't use the F word. His editors won't let him. After criticizing the media for not being on top of the story sooner -- attesting perhaps to their lack of sensitivity -- he drops the bomb.
"After Coulter's use of the slur -- which drew more than a smattering of applause and laughter -- MSNBC's Keith Olbermann played the unexpurgated clip that night on his "Countdown" program. The most prominent newspaper coverage was at the bottom of a Los Angeles Times story (which used the word) and a mention in Dana Milbank's Washington Post column (which did not). Post editors decided then, and again for this story, that the controversy could be adequately explained without using the offensive word." -washingtonpost
Over at the New York Times it's another story. In Judith Warner's op-ed today she says it four times in the first two paragraphs:
"Ann Coulter’s use of the epithet 'faggot' to slur the Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards last week took me back to the schoolyards of the 1970s, when Coulter and I were both young.
There were plenty of words like 'faggot' being thrown around back then. There was 'faggoty,' for example. 'Retard.' And 'spaz' — or 'total spaz,' the rhythm of which rang through her words last year, when Coulter dismissed Al Gore on MSNBC as a 'total fag.'"