| Username |
Post |
| the real ashu |
Posted
on 09-Jul-01 12:48 AM
From NYT
July 9, 2001
Me-Zine Journalism for Fun and (Sometimes) Profit
By ALEX KUCZYNSKI
Mickey Kaus, a former reporter for Newsweek, works out of his home off the beach in Santa Monica, Calif., looking at a blue sliver of ocean, drawing in the balmy beach air, his usual work attire a mismatched, rumpled sweatsuit.
He writes his column between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m., for his three- year-old Web site, Kausfiles, a hodgepodge of his political opinions, rants from his readers, media critiques and links to other sites.
But the best part, Mr. Kaus says, is that in the six-month period through June his Web site has, unexpectedly, become profitable. Mr. Kaus said that after his expenses ($2,346), and considering his income ($1,000) from his one advertiser, Contentville, along with donations from readers, he has made a profit of $318.60.
"So call me a mogul," he said.
Mr. Kaus is just one participant in a growing journalism format now known as the "me-zine," electronic magazines that feature the opinions of one man or one woman, writing alone, often late at night and often wearing pajamas, and indulging in the opinionated wordplay they all went into print journalism for and now find is much more fun — and sometimes profitable, however slightly — on the Internet.
The me-zine has been around in various formats since the Internet became popular; Matt Drudge's Drudge Report, drudgereport.com, went online in 1996, with no initial thought, Mr. Drudge said last week, to make money. Now Mr. Drudge has four advertising agencies selling space on his Web site.
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| the real ashu |
Posted
on 09-Jul-01 12:52 AM
More than ever, writers are choosing the electronic me-zine as their bully pulpit rather than, or in addition to, a column in the local newspaper or political magazine.
Two months ago, Slate magazine inaugurated a me-zine site, which links readers to andrewsullivan.com, j-marshall.com/talk, kausfiles.com and vpostrel.com, where columnists air their opinions on popular culture, politics and practically every other subject.
Sometimes they take pride in what they do not write. "For a number of reasons, I've tried to make these virtual pages a Condit/Chandra-free zone," said Joshua Micah Marshall, writer of the j-marshall.com/talk site, although the Web site commented over the weekend about the news media's coverage.
Virginia Postrel, a libertarian who writes the vpostrel.com site and a contributor to the Economic Scene column in The New York Times, said that she started the site in 1998 to promote her book "The Future and Its Enemies." But she said that she started making money only in the last year when she introduced a tip box, through which readers donate cash in an arrangement with Amazon.com. She has received about $1,200 in tips since February, she said.
"I think this enterprise is about self-expression," she said. "The money is an added benefit."
Visits to most of the sites are not measured by outside agencies. Andrew Sullivan, an editor at The New Republic and a contributor to The New York Times Magazine, said that since he introduced his site last year, the number of individual users visiting the site at least once had risen to 180,000 last month from 30,000, according to what he described as unsophisticated tracking software.
Rather than depending on advertisers, Mr. Sullivan depends on his tip box and sponsors. The site has raised more than $25,000 in donations since October — $8,000 from the Amazon tip box since March — he said, and has just signed its first corporate sponsor, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade association.
"So far it has been pro bono, but eventually I would like to have a salary," Mr. Sullivan said, adding that the journalistic freedom of the site is its most attractive feature.
"You get to write things and you don't have to put all the substantiation you'd put in a print article in a little online posting," he said.
Mr. Sullivan said that freedom also comes with peril — the ability to make mistakes, easily and often. "It is a little scary because you have no filters," he said. "If you make a mistake you must correct yourself at once or else you will alienate your readers."
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| the real ashu |
Posted
on 09-Jul-01 12:54 AM
And while the sites monitor themselves and it is difficult to get concrete statistics about the size of the audience, some authors do believe that the me-zine is a good format in which to advertise their books and to tap an audience as a reporting resource. Malcolm Gladwell, the author of "The Tipping Point" and a contributor to The New Yorker, makes his published work available on malcolmgladwell.com and provides links to buy his book. Last year, Edward Jay Epstein, the author of "Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer" and "News from Nowhere," introduced his site, edwardjayepstein.com. He is researching a book about the business of Hollywood and occasionally gets a news tip from a reader that is worth reporting further.
There are technical drawbacks to popularity. Mr. Epstein's Web site started out as a link through Slate, but he withdrew from Slate when he started getting too many viewers.
"I had to keep buying more and more bandwidth to accommodate them," he said. "It's like having a lot of visitors to your house. You have to keep building new roads to get them all there. I didn't want that many people in my house."
Mr. Sullivan said that after Rush Limbaugh read one of his Web columns on the air, "suddenly, Kazoom, our little wires were bursting." Mr. Sullivan said that he has added more bandwidth almost every month since the site has been up.
Mr. Kaus said that the me-zine sites can easily become profitable because there are usually no, or few, employees. He said that other Web sites were far overstaffed and that led to their demise.
"Pseudo.com, dead," Mr. Kaus said. "Feed, on ice. Inside, sold. Salon, dying. Kausfiles, profitable."
David Talbot, the editor in chief of Salon, said Mr. Kaus was plain wrong about Salon. "We're not dead yet, so he is getting ahead of himself," Mr. Talbot said.
David Patrick Columbia, the editor in chief of Quest magazine, introduced a Web site last fall called nysocialdiary.com, a daily column about New York social life that employs only Mr. Columbia and one assistant. Mr. Columbia has made about $3,000 in advertising revenue, he said, and has received enough requests to run ads that he hired two advertising salespeople who start at the end of the month.
Mr. Columbia said he was an avid Internet reader, but that he is generally suspicious of political me-zines. "The only problem I see with andrewsullivan.com or any of the other serious me-zines is that it is all generally a lot of pontification without real reporting to back up the opinions," Mr. Columbia said.
Mr. Talbot of Salon added that he thinks of me-zines as "one-man vanity presses."
But Mr. Sullivan said that his readers understand his role as an opinionated filter. "They know that my job is to read everything I can and get irritated as much as I can and splutter for them on a daily basis," he said, adding that he provides links to everything he writes about.
Mr. Drudge provides links but he does not see himself as the proprietor of a me-zine. "I don't write my opinions," he said. "I consider myself more of a network, more like Rupert Murdoch, than some solitary guy. Does Katharine Graham run a me-zine?"
"Oh, the ego," Mr. Columbia said. "The ego has landed."
Of course, there is an element of the egotist to most me-zine operators. Mr. Kaus said that although his three-figure profit does not mean he'll be test-flying Gulfstream jets, it is an opportunity for some seriously gratifying schadenfreude.
"That's $318.60 The New Yorker didn't make this year," he said.
Mr. Kaus said that he was not sure yet how he will spend his windfall.
"I was thinking of buying a used chair," he said, adding that he understood that Kurt Andersen, a founder of Inside.com, had a really nice Aeron chair for sale.
"I figure it's symbolic," Mr. Kaus said. "The Aeron chair was the symbol of the dot-com boom, and now that it's bust I hear you can get the chairs at fire-sale prices."
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| TICKED |
Posted
on 09-Jul-01 11:47 AM
Mr Moron !!!!!
Can't you get it through your thick head.... But its perfect for you. Maybe you should do this......WELCOME TO ASSTOSS'SWORLD. This article has nothing to do with NEPAL. Do not post your junk mail here. You couldn't really be that stupid(By god you went harvard?). There is a time and place for everything idiot.
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| Double Ticked |
Posted
on 09-Jul-01 12:28 PM
Ticked, Just when things were cooling off a little you had to again bring up personal issues? I don't think there's any bar in this site regarding which infomation should be shared or not. Or do you just thrive on communal chaos and personal bashings?
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| GR Bhattarai |
Posted
on 09-Jul-01 12:47 PM
All posters of GBNC:
Sometimes the articles are very long and they come from already published sources, most of them are available over the internet. Unless it is an original work of the poster, wouldn't it better to give a brief review and comments from poster and give a link to that source?
Gandhi
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| TICKED |
Posted
on 09-Jul-01 12:54 PM
All I am saying is.... this is junk mail
don't post junk mail here. If so then lets start posting KKK material. I am not getting personal. I don't even know this person. But he keeps posting unrelated material(occupying space). The site clearly spells out GBNC not public service for entire world. If the subject matter is not NEPAL< NEPALI< OR GREATER BOSTON, do not post. If so then people who want to post porn should be able to post porn materials here as well.
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| the real ashu |
Posted
on 10-Jul-01 03:36 AM
Dear Ticked and Double Ticked,
This is your favorite "Mr. Moron" posting again
to make you, well, Triple Ticked :-)
FYI, there is no rule that says ONLY and STRICTLY Nepal and Nepali-related materials need to be posted here. I have
posted countless non-Nepal and non-Nepali related materials before, and will continue to do so in the forseeable future.
If you have a problem with that, well, tough luck!!
Like everyone else here, I feel FREE to post anything that
may be of interest to the site visitors.
And you are FREE to either read or ignore my postings or
even, without identifying yourselves, continue to bash me.
I wish you both and your friends my very best.
Gandhi, thanks for having the courage to post under your
own name. Your suggestion is quite sensible.
oohi
ashu
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| ticked |
Posted
on 10-Jul-01 08:55 AM
Very typical...
Arrogant & ignorant....
Go ahead keep posting Mr harvard
please Dump all your junk mail here
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| Ticked |
Posted
on 10-Jul-01 01:02 PM
Thanks Ram Babu KC
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| the real ashu |
Posted
on 10-Jul-01 11:50 PM
Thank you Comrades Ticked and Company
for thinking about me constantly
on this Web site like this.
Given you reactions, I am happy to be doing
this little bit of public service to
provide this emotional valve so that you
can blow off steam.
I also think your new name better expresses
your sentiments than the old-fashioned
'gaunle'.
Keep up the good work; we are all proud
of you.
oohi
yours in "arrogance", "ignorance" and much else besides.
ashu
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| ticked |
Posted
on 11-Jul-01 10:04 AM
Mr phenomenon,
Have you lost your mind ?? and who is this gaunle character you're talking about??You think you know everything but you don't Mr Knowitall. You've definately gone Bonkers... Please go see a therapist before you lose it completly. No need to thank me. You might think whatever you are posting is important to you. But have you ever thought about other people ever in your lifetime Mr harvard. The world does not revolve around you. There are others too here. Have you ever thought why people hate you so much ???? I am talking waaaayyyy back. All I was talking about was 'bout the postings & you had to bring your personal mamala and be all sarcastic. There are others out there that don't like you because of your attitude. Look at the tone of your writing, Mr sarcastic. Anyways I am not going to waste anymore of my time on a pathetic looooser like you(MR. ME me me).
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| peace ashu and ashuko |
Posted
on 12-Jul-01 01:29 AM
Ashu and Ashuko enemies: You are both sick to the core. All this tamasha is not very amusing.
May god give you the courage to redeem yourselves and rise above petty differences before you allow this fight to consume yourselves.
I am frankly apalled how seasoned, and reasonably sophisticated, guys like you have allowed your ghosts to haunt yourselves over and over. I sincerely hope you guys are O.K. And will be able to find peace. Some day.
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| real ashu |
Posted
on 12-Jul-01 10:44 AM
Hi all,
This is the real ashu posting. My password to "the real ashu" is
in another computer elsewhere (and sorry, I don't have it now), so I can't log on using that name. Hence, please bear with me
as I use this name for this 'posting'.
In Nepal and elsewhere, I have QUIETLY observed a lot of very intelligent Nepalis (such as Devendra Raj Pandey, Mohan man Sainju and many others) going about their public lives, and one thing that has struck me is how unwilling/reluctant they are to make enemies regarding issues that matter.
(I am NOT saying that one should go out and make enemies
deliberately. What I am saying is that the VALUE of having enemies for one's own growth and appreciation for the complxity of the world is NOT to be underestimated, especially if one aspires for some kind of public leadership later on . . . for evidence: read any biography of any leader who's left his or
her mark in the world . . . starting with Churchill, JFK, Gandhi, Lincoln and so on . . . they all had TONS of enemies who wanted
to bring them down.)
Often, our very intelligent fellow Nepalis are so eager to just get along with make-believe peace with others and so driven to be nice/nice/nice to others -- in a hypocritical way -- that it's little wonder that they ultimately achieve -- personally and professinally -- little of substance. And you talk to them, and all you sense, especially if they are in their late 40s and 50s/60s, is frustration/anger and disappointment in their voices.
Our intellectuals fail us in Nepal NOT because they are NOT smart, but because they do NOT take the risks to speak up their conscience, especially when it means making some enemies.
Likewise, few of our journalists ever take the risks to bring us the truth because they fear making the the powers-that-be their enemies. And our public netas are so reluctant to make outright enemies of one another that we have all seen how they have spent the last eight years over petty, long-drawn out jhagada that has ONLY drained our collective national energy.
I mean, to give you one example, so what if the goddamn Nepali Congress breaks up into 1000 pieces and Sher Bdr. becomes the outright enemy of Girija? Would the world, as we know it, come
to an end?
No.
I'm tired of these netas mock-peace that's only ends up being insulting to any self-respecting Nepali. As a citizen, ti cite one example, I'd rather deal with clear-cut enemity amongst netas than with their stupid, friends-again-enemies-again-and-friends-again silly naatak that serves no purpose and only insults our intelligence.
And so, even though I like nice people, I have come to have little patience with most of my fellow Nepalis who are always acting nice/nice/nice and their unwillingness/reluctance to make
enemies regarding things that -- dammit!! -- matter.
When Girija lectures us about the value of transparency, I, as a citizen, want to see some fearless journalist willing enough to make Girija his enemy to ask: "For somebody who lectures Nepalis on transparency, why the hell did he hide Chataut from the law enforecment officials when that was so against the goddamn law
he was SUPPOSED to withold in the first place?"
I want to see Nepalis willing to make themselves 'enemies' of the Raj Durbar to ask: "What should we REALLY do with Paras, who's long been a hit-and-kill driver on at least four known
occasions?"
I want to see Nepalis willing to ask the Maoists: "If you are
so desh-bhakta as you claim, why are you hellbent on making
this nation the Somalia of Asia by spreading terror, inciting violence and claiming that ONLY you and you alone are right, right and right?"
Asking these and many other questions is NOT easy.
Not easy, because asking these kind of questions is the
surest way to make enemies, and most of us DREAD making
enemies in the first place. So we end up being impotent, ineffectual, castrated intellectuals/citizens/netas/journalists/whatever
who play safe, who pontificate, and who take no risks whatsoever and who have no sense of persistence to fight to the bloody finish for things that matter.
I mean, we give up too easily . . . at the slightest hint of trouble, at the slightest hint of enemity of others, and no wonder, most of us -- no matter where we are educated and how much we know -- FAIL, FAIL and FAIL to change the status quo in our various societies, even though we can spend our lives talking about changing the status quo in Nepal.
So, in light of the above, I, personally, don't mind having enemies. And I REJECT the idea that so-called highly eduated people must not fight to preserve some putative harmony, as though we live in some la-la amityville.
So, yes, I, as a person, need all my friends to reinforce what I am good at. And I, as a person, also need my enemies to strengthen my own abilities to deal with people like them.
Of course, that my enemies on this Web site CANNOT/DARE NOT ever
use their real names to level charges against me comes as a
BONUS to me, as you must have seen/read here.
But, getting back to the larger point: Make no mistakes about it: If we want to bring about meaningful changes in Nepal, even in bits and pieces, we should be ready to:
a) ALWAYS create, maintain and nurture an informal, trust-based and interlocking network of like-minded people (from DIVERSE backgrounds!) who may NOT always agree with us on everything
b) and, NEVER shy away from making enemies who will surely use every trick in the book to attack/criticize/vilify/slander
us.
My experience is that, at the end of the day, if your conscience is clean, then no matter how much you are attacked, you can
always have your sound 7-hour sleep.
So, let the attacks continue on me. As Trailokya has rightly observed in another posting, by their stupid attacks one after another, my enemies HAVE unwittingly made me a stronger person. So, they actually deserve a big thank you
Sorry, this posting is quite long . . . and my fingers are tired :-)
oohi
ashu
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| Ticked |
Posted
on 12-Jul-01 11:27 AM
Mr Harvard!!!!
Don't flatter yourself...trying to compare yourself with Churchill, Gandhi, & JFK. You don't have the intelligence of Churchill(how long did it take for you to graduate from Harvard???). You don't have the traquility of Gandhi(your Jhagadalu nature). And you ain't never getting women like JFK. You definately are not as compassionate as Lincoln(look at your behaviour its pretty obvious).Its all about you isn't it ???
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