The always entertaining Alex Pareene has finished his mission work at Andrew Sullivan's Pot-'n-Popes-'n-Libertarians-'n-Stuff blog and is heading back to his new day job as the executive editor of Matt Taibbi's as-yet-unnamed thingie that he will be doing over at Pierre "Pete" Omidyar's brand-new global media multi-platform content provision thingie.
In his last post at Mr. Sullivan's, Alex helpfully states the obvious fact that:
There is, rather suddenly, a lot of fresh money in journalism (and media in general), but much of that money is going to spread the same rather predictable viewpoints, from the technocratic center-left Beltway wisdom of Vox to Bloomberg’s attempt to launch a high-profile new politics brand built around horse-race enthusiasts Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. (Bloomberg will air a daily show hosted by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, modeled on ESPN shout-fest “Pardon the Interruption,” called “With All Due Respect,” presumably because this FX show already took the name “You’re the Worst.”)
And there is, too. Lots of money. Of course almost none of it going where anyone I know thinks it should go, but I suppose that is just one of the crosses that we non-internet billionaires have to bear
Alex also has a cautionary sad going about the fact that, even as our Internet Medicis continue to collect media empires as flies to wanton boys, the gauge of what those media empire are reporting on continues to radically narrow:
That last inescapable fact is the root of my main fear for the future of this industry: Nothing will replace statehouse reporting, because there’s no money in statehouse reporting. Unless you happen to live in the New York tri-state area or near the Beltway, there’s a good chance that hardly anyone is keeping on eye on your state legislature and governor, to say nothing of your city council, mayor, school board, and police department. And no one has come up with a plan to replace the people who used to do this. (Can we get some billionaire to fund a “Teach for America,” but for local journalism?) (I guess I could ask my billionaire.)
Sad indeed. Because although we are now well into the age of Be Anywhere technology, where you can track your lost iguana via GPS and tweet dick-pics from Mt. McKinley using the wifi in your new Chevy ADHD Distracta ...
...the blessings of such technology have somehow not yet reached the media business where workers are apparently still required to live within walking distance of the pneumatic tube system that delivers editorial copy within the New York/D.C. sprawl.
On the bright side, Alex's corner of Pierre "Pete" Omidyar's brand-new global media multi-platform content provision thingie is hiring! Velum Stretchers and Book Illuminators and who knows what all kindsa stuff!
And I almost applied for one of those gigs because Alex and Matt are terrific writer and I like money.
Sadly. of the 10 listed openings, 2.5 of them are in San Francisco, and the remaining 7.5 spots in Alex's corner of Pierre "Pete" Omidyar's brand-new global media multi-platform content provision thingie require that I live withing walking distance of the pneumatic tube system that delivers editorial copy within the New York/D.C. sprawl.
Because irony.
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