Opinion: New Media Rules*
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It’s been a banner week locally for the non-MSM media, particularly blogs. Or has it?? Let’s roll tape:
City Council settles a racial-harassment lawsuit with black LAFD firefighter Tennie Pierce after his colleagues served dog food in his spaghetti. Then, a tipster e-mails some photos to KFI talkers John & Ken of Pierce enthusiastically joining in some hazing fun from years gone by. They post the pics all over their website, and yak about it on their show. As a direct result, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa rejects the settlement with his first veto. New Media 1, MSM 0!
Outtastic celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton gets the star treatment in a Calendar section profile. NM 2, MSM 0.
The Daily News uncorks a much-read psychological profile of the mayor, particularly his embellishments about his upbringing. How is this a victory for the insurgency? Well if you ask the Martini Republic,
For well over a year now, the snakepit of comments at MayorSam has offered salient details about Antonio Villaraigosa’s previous life as a less-than-abused Tony Villar and a less-than-excellent university student. All the news in the comments over the year have been harvested, sifted, and distilled into one print piece by Tony Castro about the mythbuilding behind Villaraigosa.
NM 2.5, MSM 0.5 What else? The California Supreme Court protected the owners of website comments sections from being sued for libel over commenters’ frothings, something that puts a smile on our faces. Oh, and something about a newish website, totally popular, landing that Michael Richards video.
Is it a sweep for our New Media friends? Sadly, no. Serial L.A. Times-tweaker Patrick ‘Patterico’ Frey, while busy busting our chops over Iraq coverage, found out the hard way (to paraphrase Bob Dylan) that nobody at CENTCOM gives a damn.
* Updated w/ Perez Hilton & a recalculation of scores.