Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Atlas Mugged: How a Gang of Scrappy, Individual Bloggers Broke the Stranglehold of the MSM
The Atlas Society ^ | Edward B. Driscoll, Jr.

Posted on 09/23/2007 8:05:31 AM PDT by shove_it

The twentieth century was the high point of mass culture—or “the overculture” as some call it. Any culture that could produce Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and The Honeymooners can’t be all bad.

But eventually, the connection between media elites and their audiences began to fracture. Though apocryphal, the line frequently attributed to Pauline Kael of the New Yorker in 1972 sums up the growing chasm between the overculture—particularly the media—and its audience: “I don’t know how Nixon won. No one I know voted for him.”

Just as the Big Three car manufacturers, with a once-monolithic hold on American consumers, seemed unaware that the public wanted a wider choice of cars (until Japan listened and responded), Pauline Kael’s in-crowd of coastal elites has, if anything, become even more clueless and resistant to emerging changes in the culture and dissemination of information.

How clueless? In 2004, Jonathan Klein, the former executive vice president of CBS News, described blogging as “a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing.” Last May, Time-Warner CEO Richard Parsons was quoted as saying, “The Googles of the world, they are the Custer of the modern world. We are the Sioux nation. They will lose this war if they go to war. The notion that the new kids on the block have taken over is a false notion.” ...

(Excerpt) Read more at atlassociety.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: msm; newmedia; pajamahadeen
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-55 next last

1 posted on 09/23/2007 8:05:33 AM PDT by shove_it
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: shove_it

....well, the MSM could OFFER A BETTER PRODUCT. But that wouldn’t get their unbiased, non partisan agenda out.....


2 posted on 09/23/2007 8:10:37 AM PDT by Tzimisce (How Would Mohammed Vote? Hillary for President! www.dndorks.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shove_it
The Googles of the world, they are the Custer of the modern world. We are the Sioux nation. They will lose this war if they go to war.

Stupid comparison. The Sioux may have won the battle, but they LOST THE WAR!

3 posted on 09/23/2007 8:20:55 AM PDT by neodad (USS Vincennes (CG-49) Freedom's Fortress)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shove_it
Last May, Time-Warner CEO Richard Parsons was quoted as saying, “The Googles of the world, they are the Custer of the modern world. We are the Sioux nation. They will lose this war if they go to war.

Parsons ought to remember that although the Sioux Nation defeated Custer, it eventually lost the Black Hills War.

4 posted on 09/23/2007 8:27:48 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shove_it
Interesting view of the Blogging world and its History.

The idea that anyones opinion is as good as the so called “Journalists” is ground breaking from a publishing aspect.

I have blogged for years and occasionally submit pieces for publication on other sites.

If anyone had told me when I started that I would have a site with tens of thousands of visitors, have a piece that was read by over a quarter million people and was a featured piece on the Rush Limbaugh show I would have told them they were nuts.

I am still amazed.

Cheers,

knewshound

http://www.knewshound.blogspot.com/

5 posted on 09/23/2007 8:34:27 AM PDT by knews_hound (In order to not be banned, I no longer discuss Politics here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neodad
Does this mean that in the future Pinch Salzburg’s descendants could end up running a casino and selling cheap smokes?
6 posted on 09/23/2007 8:34:35 AM PDT by InABunkerUnderSF ("Gun Control" is not about the guns. "Illegal Immigration" is not about the immigration)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: shove_it

Could we please stop pretending that Citizen Kane is one of the world’s Great Works of Art?


7 posted on 09/23/2007 8:37:49 AM PDT by Psycho_Bunny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tzimisce

The weakness of MSM coverage versus what people get here on FreeRepublic, is that the “professional” journalist knows very little about that he’s currently assigned to report on, while here on FR we get people chiming in on discussions who have expert professional knowledge of the particular issue


8 posted on 09/23/2007 8:38:44 AM PDT by SauronOfMordor (When injustice becomes law, rebellion becomes duty)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: shove_it
"The zenith had been reached!"

The FCC -- FDR's lever that moved the world.

9 posted on 09/23/2007 8:44:03 AM PDT by bvw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SauronOfMordor
I look back on the journalism students I knew in college and you would be hard-pressed to find another group of students less interested in acquiring knowledge.
10 posted on 09/23/2007 8:45:48 AM PDT by Reily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: knews_hound

I don’t guess your letter to the Bee got published.


11 posted on 09/23/2007 8:46:09 AM PDT by shove_it (old Old Guardsman)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: shove_it

Bump for an article worth reading.


12 posted on 09/23/2007 8:49:30 AM PDT by Poser (Willing to fight for oil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shove_it

LOL

No, it didn’t.

I was shocked, shocked I tell you!

I don’t think they quite got my humor for some reason.....

Cheers,

knewshound

http://www.knewshound.blogspot.com/


13 posted on 09/23/2007 8:51:14 AM PDT by knews_hound (In order to not be banned, I no longer discuss Politics here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: knews_hound
Must’a been the plunging DJ charts that they didn’t want their remaining readers to see.
14 posted on 09/23/2007 8:56:47 AM PDT by shove_it (old Old Guardsman)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: shove_it

Driscoll has an excellent understanding of media history, but I question his time line of the emergence of the blogosphere. He seems to undervalue the emergence of news forums like FR in the late 90s as the link between news media and blogging, long before blogger.com and their success after 9-11 which he implies came from next to nowhere.

He’s also missing the next convergence, social networking married with blogging. Some day you’ll click on a blogger’s icon and see information from his myspace page, his ebay profile, his latest FR posts, YouTube videos etc,... (and what you see will be under his control)


15 posted on 09/23/2007 8:59:33 AM PDT by elfman2 ("As goes Fallujah, so goes central Iraq and so goes the entire country" -Col Coleman, USMC ,4/2004)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: elfman2

Good call. I too was wondering why forums were not included in the article.


16 posted on 09/23/2007 9:08:32 AM PDT by shove_it (old Old Guardsman)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Psycho_Bunny

“Could we please stop pretending that Citizen Kane is one of the world’s Great Works of Art?”

Hearst was the only publisher who was disputing the NYTimes and Duranty’s coverup of communist genocide.

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:nMsDdzdXbOQJ:www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/1983/408323.shtml+hearst+duranty&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&ie=UTF-8


17 posted on 09/23/2007 9:08:42 AM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Psycho_Bunny

As I understand it, the movie did achieve some technical proficiency for its time.
But I agree, I don’t find the Hearst story all that riveting. Maybe if you were part of that time, this was the ultimate rebel yell to the elites.

Is that what the fuss is?


18 posted on 09/23/2007 9:17:29 AM PDT by romanesq
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: spanalot

?


19 posted on 09/23/2007 9:18:35 AM PDT by Psycho_Bunny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Psycho_Bunny

“Citizen Kane” is the darling of the Hollywood left because it reduces Hearst to being a tragic fool.

This is in a long line of bashing by the left of all those who tried to uncover Communist Genocide starting in the 20’s.


20 posted on 09/23/2007 9:35:39 AM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: romanesq

“some technical proficiency for its time.”

Big deal, he used a model during that ridiculously celebrated shot from stage to theater ceiling.

(Yawn).


21 posted on 09/23/2007 9:37:20 AM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Reily
I look back on the journalism students I knew in college and you would be hard-pressed to find another group of students less interested in acquiring knowledge.

The impression I get is that they're less concerned about understanding what they're reporting about, than in displaying skill in spinning the story to achieve political goals ("changing the world" messianic complex)

22 posted on 09/23/2007 9:46:19 AM PDT by SauronOfMordor (When injustice becomes law, rebellion becomes duty)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: shove_it
The funny thing is, after reading newspapers all my life, I'm surprised how little I miss them.

Every once in awhile, I pick one up out of nostalgia and shake my head that they are still in business with the content they provide.

Now if I can just get a laptop small enough to take into the "library" in the morning.....

Cheers,

knewshound

http://www.knewshound.blogspot.com/
23 posted on 09/23/2007 9:47:43 AM PDT by knews_hound (In order to not be banned, I no longer discuss Politics here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: neodad
The Googles of the world, they are the Custer of the modern world. We are the Sioux nation. They will lose this war if they go to war.

Stupid comparison. The Sioux may have won the battle, but they LOST THE WAR!

The perfect picture of the old media's combination of arrogance and ignorance. And this is from the CEO of the company who couldn't find a way to usher the largest internet company in the world into the broadband market.

24 posted on 09/23/2007 9:56:36 AM PDT by Ghengis (Of course freedom is free. If it wasn't, it would be called expensivedom. ~Cindy Sheehan 11/11/06)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: shove_it

25 posted on 09/23/2007 10:01:23 AM PDT by Donald Rumsfeld Fan (NY Times: "fake but accurate")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fiji Hill
LOLOLOLOL! He seems to think that the Sioux won the war against the imperialistic white man. I'm not entirely surprised; every interview of Parsons I've read show him to be 90% moonbat, 10% CEO - and 100% socialist affirmative action baby. Is it any wonder that Time-Warner has had such stellar performance under his leadership?
26 posted on 09/23/2007 12:11:45 PM PDT by TrueKnightGalahad (Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Viking Kitties!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: spanalot

To be fair, there were at least several technical advances in cinema making.


27 posted on 09/23/2007 12:13:20 PM PDT by romanesq
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: shove_it; elfman2
Good call. I too was wondering why forums were not included in the article.

The article makes a reference to Rathergate, but doesn't mention that this was accomplished on a forum (this forum), rather than a blog.

28 posted on 09/23/2007 12:23:57 PM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (IF TREASON IS THE QUESTION, THEN MOVEON.ORG IS THE ANSWER!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Good point. I’ll try to contact the author of this article or the editor of the Atlas Society. Do you have a link to the FR thread that exposed Rathergate? As I recall, the typewriter snafu was exposed on LGF which is mentioned in the article.
29 posted on 09/23/2007 12:42:06 PM PDT by shove_it (old Old Guardsman)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: shove_it

There were threads about this as recently as yesterday, I’ve been up for 20 hours, suggest you search on ‘Rather’.


30 posted on 09/23/2007 1:03:14 PM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (IF TREASON IS THE QUESTION, THEN MOVEON.ORG IS THE ANSWER!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla

OK


31 posted on 09/23/2007 1:04:20 PM PDT by shove_it (old Old Guardsman)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Quix

Ping to this thread, it’s a good ‘un.


32 posted on 09/23/2007 1:36:28 PM PDT by Joya
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shove_it

Dear Mr. Parsons,

Why don’t you ask Time-Warner stockholders if they like the idea of sharing the fate of the “Sioux Nation”????

Custer’s defeat was just a temporary (though bloody) setback for the US Cavalry.

But I don’t think any analogies to cavalry and Sioux work too well when contemplating the rise of the blogosphere and the complacent old MSM......


33 posted on 09/23/2007 1:40:22 PM PDT by Enchante (Current Democrat war-fighting motto: "bleat, cheat, defeat, and retreat")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: romanesq

“To be fair, there were at least several technical advances in cinema making.”

Do you recall what the others were besides the long vertical shot?


34 posted on 09/23/2007 2:08:40 PM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Psycho_Bunny

I quit years ago. What a self indulgent POS.


35 posted on 09/23/2007 2:14:20 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (in the halls of Valhalla...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Buckhead; shove_it; Lucius Cornelius Sulla
ping Buckhead

Anything you’d care to contribute to this thread or say to the author of the article?

36 posted on 09/23/2007 2:58:13 PM PDT by shove_it (old Old Guardsman)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: knews_hound

I checked out your blog, and that was a great letter you sent to the Sac (”the sac”)..


37 posted on 09/23/2007 3:05:06 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: knews_hound
The funny thing is, after reading newspapers all my life, I'm surprised how little I miss them.

Exactly. Thanks for the link to your blog.

38 posted on 09/23/2007 3:16:48 PM PDT by PGalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: spanalot

Honestly I couldn’t list them. I saw the movie once and that was enough.


39 posted on 09/23/2007 3:21:53 PM PDT by romanesq
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: shove_it

“We are the Sioux nation. They will lose this war if they go to war.”

OOPS!
Custer brought bigger weapons this time...


40 posted on 09/23/2007 3:22:34 PM PDT by tcrlaf (You can lead a Liberal to LOGIC, but you can't make it THINK)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shove_it
"But whatever its future form, the idea and ideal of individual self-publishing—something that our pamphleteer-era Founding Fathers would instantly understand and enthusiastically applaud—is safely here to stay."

Interesting read.

41 posted on 09/23/2007 3:29:25 PM PDT by 2111USMC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shove_it
It can be said with all due modesty the Pajamahadeen changed the world. And the MSM have never forgiven them for it.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

42 posted on 09/23/2007 3:34:01 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lancey Howard; PGalt; Valin
Thank you both for the kind words.

In most respects, blogging is a labor of love and I appreciate the encouragement.

Seen this Valin?

Cheers,

knewshound

http://www.knewshound.blogspot.com/

43 posted on 09/23/2007 4:39:31 PM PDT by knews_hound (In order to not be banned, I no longer discuss Politics here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: tcrlaf

MSM doesn’t seem to grasp the notion of “asymmetric conflict” either. MSM has far more to lose.


44 posted on 09/23/2007 7:40:33 PM PDT by scrabblehack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: scrabblehack

I think the MSM is still the Alpha Dog. I can find no other explanation for the candidacies of McCain and Tooty Fruity Rudy. The MSM is the reason why we have the governator rather than Tom McClintock, and the reason why Fred is polling 23% while Hunter polls 1%.

We still have a lot of hills to take.


45 posted on 09/23/2007 10:27:53 PM PDT by Kevmo (We should withdraw from Iraq — via Tehran. And Duncan Hunter is just the man to get that job done.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: shove_it
A few thoughts:

1. the MSM is a coastal-elite, hyper-urban groupthink paradigm. the MSM ignores the opinions of the Heartland except when that opinion is identical to elite Coastal thinking.

2. the MSM sees their purpose as being to advance global socialism, not to merely report news. Come up with something that convinces Americans to transfer free wealth to Africa and the MSM will publish it. Come up with something that attacks the U.S. resistance to international collectivism and the MSM will publish it.

3. ...but the above can’t win by telling the truth and holding open debates. Knowing that it must win through deceit limits the power of the MSM to those instances where it can completely control information.

That power/control has been reduced over the past 60 years by private magazines/newsletters, pirate/ham radio, BBS’s, talk radio, the Internet, Fox News, independent films/documentaries, etc.

Once an unquestioned ethical powerhouse, CBS’ 60 Minutes is now a laughingstock...all because of the lack of the MSM’s ability to fully control all information and public debate.

4. Thus, we are seeing the MSM post-epoch...they are past their peak (of power) and they can’t get it back so long as their prime goal is to advocate global socialism through deceit.

46 posted on 09/23/2007 10:50:31 PM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Southack
The only advantage the enemedia has over the blogosphere is direct access to the politicians and the broadcast facilities.

Now if say a POTUS refused to deal with the MSM and say go directly to the people via the internet, take questions from citizens instead of reporters, the White House press corps would be irrelevant.

47 posted on 09/23/2007 11:05:32 PM PDT by Rome2000 (Peace is not an option)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: knews_hound

It's the only sub-$400 sub-notebook out there. Runs linux off of a solid state hard-drive. Comes out beginning of October and I can't wait!

Eee PC

48 posted on 09/24/2007 4:41:48 AM PDT by Eepsy (The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: shove_it

What is this obsession, bordering on religion, on insisting that news organizations be “objective”? In the early years of our nation every newspaper was an advocate of one political position or another. The founding fathers expected it to be so, and expressly codified their right to be partisan.


49 posted on 09/24/2007 4:53:30 AM PDT by ko_kyi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla; Buckhead; All
Since Rather has dredged up “Rathergate” again here’s an encore of some 3yr. old FR threads to commemorate the event for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1223397/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1222920/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1221395/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1221216/posts

I’ll try to get some credit for inter-net forums (especially FR) with this author and editor.

50 posted on 09/24/2007 5:43:01 AM PDT by shove_it (old Old Guardsman)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-55 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson