The move to monetize online journalism is forcing content publishers to experiment (and sometimes exploit). The graphic above, apparently from Dustin Steinacker, was making the rounds earlier this week and gave us a bit of a chuckle here at indieWIRE. Some of it hits close to home.
In order to keep content free, ads are being placed in new spots on sites, on multiple pages, hoping to generate more Internet eyeballs (and revenues). But, things got even murkier today in film journo circles with the publishing of a Focus Features sponsored post by respected movie site, /film. The piece, written by David Chen, looks at the filmography of “Away We Go” director Sam Mendes and the comments it’s generating are more about /film and their editorial policies than the filmmaker and his work.
UPDATE: /film explains.
Worth watching: The Daily Show visits the Midtown Manhattan headquarters of The New York Times, chatting with Times exec editor Bill Keller, “the last of a dying breed”...and more.
I found it quite odd a little over a month ago when Variety touted the lighting of its sign atop on a Wilshire Blvd. building in Los Angeles. At a time when rumors inside the leading Hollywood trade paper indicated that it was on shaky ground, the move seemed quite excessive.
Today’s news that Variety is cutting two of its strongest links to the indie, specialty and festival world—Anne Thompson and Mike Jones—was a total shocker. That it happened on a day when some 70,000 American lost jobs (according to CNN) is stunning. Mike is one of my closest friends (and an important figure here at indieWIRE over the years), while Anne has been a longtime time supporter and friend who I read religiously. Variety is the bible of the business, so the decision to cut out the heart of their own online film group is a big blow.
I corresponded with both MIke and Anne today, so I won’t criticize their former bosses any further other than to say that as a loyal Variety reader, today’s move—on the heels of the departure of Variety marketing guru Madelyn Hammond— is a major disappointment. Cheers Mike and Anne for your hard work at Variety! Your absence will be felt.
UPDATED: Anne’s farewell post. And Mike’s (with some good comments).
The hot rumor ahead of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ big announcement tomorrow is that he’ll unveil the rumored Apple “iPhone” (or whatever it will be called) and the Wall Street Journal just broke the news (on its subscription website) that the portable Apple device will be carried by Cingular (see the AP story about the WSJ story).
The lead up to Jobs’ speech tomorrow at MacWorld in SF has lead to considerable buzz and speculation, so much so that even the thousands of CES attendees hundreds of miles away in Vegas will likely be buzzing about whatever his big news is…. The blog that is always a thorn in Apple’s side, ThinkSecret, offers a nice round-up of the rumors tonight…
indieWIRE isn’t exactly a traditional “trade paper,” but of course we often cover the ins-and-outs of the film business…one of the challenges of such reporting involves maintaining the access to the information that comes from the companies we try to report on. As top notch trade writer Anne Thompson unfortunately learned, that access can easily be threatened (Universal has entirely banned her from covering their studio after disputing one of her stories).
The message sent by such a decree from a studio chief is quite clear: don’t piss us off or we’ll cut you off. Indeed, the fear of losing inside access impacts coverage of the film business…I’ve chatted with top trade reporters recently who told me about stories they are avoiding for fear of pissing off inside sources, or company heads. In one case, the Hollywood trade reporter complimented indieWIRE for its coverage of a touchy subject. Meanwhile, a separate potential story remains unreported…it involves a rather complicated scenario that is difficult to sort out—reporting it could ruffle some feathers, but we’ll try to tread lightly and make sense of it.
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