Michael Giltz: New York Times: Cutting Staff But Making Movies http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/new-york-times-cutting-st_b_93951.html [4/5/2009 7:18:04 PM] APRIL 5, 2009 HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING STYLE GREEN WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY 23/6 VIDEO BLOGGER INDEX ARCHIVE Make HuffPost Your HomePage Get Email Alerts Twitter: Follow Us BIG NEWS : Fox News | Newspapers | Facebook | NBC | More...</p><p> LOG IN | SIGN UP Michael Giltz Freelance writer and raconteur Posted March 28, 2008 | 04:24 PM (EST) BIO Become a Fan Get EmailAlerts Bloggers'Index New York Times : Cutting Staff But Making Movies Read More: Actors , David Pogue , Funny Videos , Iphone , Media , New York Times, Short Films , Sundance , Weapons , Youtube , Media News Recently, I was mildly taken aback by New York Times tech reporter David Pogue creating a music video for the new iPhone.</p><p> Always known for his humorous and reader-friendly approach totech, Pogue was simply taking the next logicalstep.</p><p> Ask someone to create videos for yourwebsite and this is what they'll do.</p><p> But it seemedto cross a line to me, somehow.</p><p> Not the end ofthe world, of course, but why exactly is the NewYork Times spending precious resources (time and money and talent) on entertainment, onshorts practically designed to get lots of hits on YouTube? It wasn't the clever music video itself that bothered me so much as where I saw itheading.</p><p> And this is where it's arrived: the New York Times is hosting a series of 12 short films featuring young actors improvising to scenarios by director Brody Baker.</p><p> It was all done at Sundance, apparently, and every few days the New York Times features a new short in which actors like Josh Lucas, Jason Ritter and Saffron Burrows emote in and around hotel rooms.</p><p> I don't care how good or bad the shorts are -- they could be Oscar worthy gems or an indulgent waste of time.</p><p> I don't care if the New York Times didn't actually "spend" any money on the filming and casting.</p><p> I don't care if this is only marginally different from getting young actors to pose inclothes for a fashion spread. (Besides, it still feels like getting in bed with actors you're supposed tobe reporting on objectively.) All I care about is that this is NOT how the New York Times should be spending its finite time and energy.</p><p> The New York Times should not be making music videos.</p><p> The New York Times should not be making short films.</p><p> The New York Times should not be wasting valuable real estate on its website promoting them.</p><p> The New York Times should not be hiring reporters/talent who look good on camera and are known for funny videos so they can branch out into YouTube.</p><p> But you know Be the First to Submit This Story to Digg Get Breaking News Alerts Share Print Comments never spam Popular Stories on HuffPost Fashion Face-Off! Michelle Obama And Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Finally Meet In France (VIDEO, PHOTOS, POLL) *Video, poll and slideshow Levi Johnston TalksSafe Sex With Tyra Banks (VIDEO) ***UPDATE*** 8:30pm: People.com is reporting that Sarah Palin has issued...</p><p> Oscar de la Renta Slams Michelle Obama's Buckingham Outfit As Major Designers FeelIgnored While Michelle Obamahas made lesser...</p><p> Verena von Pfetten 7 Lessons To BeLearned From Carla Bruni So here's the thing.There's no shortage of articles dedicated to thatcertain je ne...</p><p> Huff TV Arianna Discusses MichelleObama's "Fantastic" Style On CBS' Michael Giltz: New York Times: Cutting Staff But Making Movies http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/new-york-times-cutting-st_b_93951.html [4/5/2009 7:18:04 PM] Michelle Obama's Clothing Has Sean Hannity All Out OfSorts Cenk Uygur: Have WeReached the Tipping Pointon Guns? RICHARD POPLAWSKI,Pittsburgh Gunman, Kills 3Police Officers Dr.</p><p> Rachel Ehrenfeld: DoesIran Harbor Osama binLaden? Comments 10 Pending Comments 0 Threat to shut Boston Globe shows no...</p><p> The Woe is I Economy...</p><p> Best Late Night Jokes Of The Week:... they will be soon.</p><p> I'm pretty sure the New York Times has its hands full covering the news.</p><p> And writing terrific, in- depth articles like this, articles that few news outlets can afford to spend the time and energy reporting.</p><p> Sure, the story of a 22 year old guy buying piles of aging, decaying ammunition from Eastern Europe and flipping it to sell to Afghani fighters is so blackly humorous that it's probablyalready been optioned for the movies.</p><p> I just don't want to see the film be funded by the Times and debut on their website.</p><p> So are these shorts a complete waste because the New York Times should focus on its core mission? Or am I just an old fuddy duddy? More in Media...</p><p> HuffPost Stories Surging Right Now Ads by Google "I Cured My Yellow Teeth" Learn how a mom combined 2 products to get turn her teeth sparkly white WhiteTeethAtLast.com Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to View Comments: Newest First Expand All InofTouch See Profile I'm a Fan of InofTouch permalink I think there just branching out to maintain those staff cuts lower as much as they can but again it shows that everything to a point is going to be online....pretty sure there still be paper and Theatres butmuch of our time will be spend on boxes and squares. dkblanar See Profile I'm a Fan of dkblanar permalink I'm curious: what do you believe NYT's core mission is? Entertaining? Informing? Being profitable? "Washington Unplugged" Arianna was on CBS' "Washington...</p><p> Huff TV Arianna Appears on ABC's "This Week" Roundtable With George Stephanopoulos (VIDEO) Arianna was a guest this morning on... "BRUNO" TRAILER! Calamity, African Babies, Chase Scenes And More (NSFW VIDEO) IT'S HERE! The trailer for this July's Sacha BaronCohen...</p><p> NATO Leaders Focus On Afghanistan, But Most Reject Obama'sPlea For Troops (SLIDESHOW) STRASBOURG, France— On the eve of the NATO...</p><p> First Lady Fashion At Friday's NATO Concert (PHOTOS) Another night, another fashion opportunity for NATO leaders and their spouses! See...</p><p> Diana Palin, Sarah Palin's Sister-In-Law, Arrested For Breaking Into Home ANCHORAGE, Alaska —Police say Alaska Gov....</p><p> John Oliver Explains The Real Reason You Never Touch TheQueen (VIDEO) John Oliver was upsetenough to drop his monocle when he...</p><p> Jim Cramer Declares The Depression "Over" (VIDEO) On Thursday's episode of "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer declared that the depression...</p><p> New Jay Leno ShowRejected By NBCAffiliate In Boston BOSTON — Boston'sNBC affiliate says it will air a local newscast instead of...</p><p> Scientists Find Rocket Fuel Chemical In Infant Formula ATLANTA — Traces of a chemical used in rocket fuel were found in samples of...</p><p> Ice Bridge Ruptures In Antarctic (VIDEO) An ice bridge linking ashelf of ice the size of Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:35 PM on 03/31/2008Michael Giltz: New York Times: Cutting Staff But Making Movies http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/new-york-times-cutting-st_b_93951.html [4/5/2009 7:18:04 PM] Fuddy Duddy or not, you represent a declining readership; print media's inexorable ebb will continue, unabated, until it recognises that the values to which you allude above -- namely, noble sums of time,energy and costs associated with producing in-depth Journalism -- are not necessarily the same values young people are interested in protecting.</p><p> A 2007 Pew Research poll found as many adults, who regularly got their news from The Daily Show, demonstrated a "high knowledge" of current events as those who did so from print news outlets (54%).The NYT is the gatekeeper no more, reflected in a declining subscriber base and disappearing offline advertising revenue.</p><p> So who is the NYT writing for? And is this the same audience it needs to survive? You evidently value NTY's investigative, thorough approach; that's fine.</p><p> But Alexa.com reports Digg.com has a greater reach than NewYorkTimes.com, suggesting the market does not agree with you.</p><p> It marks the rise of the Citizen Journalist, a trend pros like Jeff Jarvis celebrate.</p><p> For better or worse, the NYT is not a philosophical experiment; I'm not an employee of the Times, but if I were, I would be shouting to all who would listen: Our domain is the world, online and off; let our valuesof Truth and Public Service imbue our work in whatever form it may take, from op-eds to music videosto islands on virtual worlds.</p><p> NicoleAnonymous See Profile I'm a Fan of NicoleAnonymous permalink Now I understand why our country is so messed up.</p><p> Jon Stewart is a comedien, not aninvestigative reporter.</p><p> Maybe the problem is Americans are so lazy that they want their news told to them by comediens while they watch TV instead of actually reading books or buying a newspaper andactually reading it.</p><p> InofTouch See Profile I'm a Fan of InofTouch permalink Daily Show, just like wikipedia shouldn't be your main source but that how people are. stuckbecause for some reason. editrix66 See Profile I'm a Fan of editrix66 permalink I love the Daily Show and watch it regularly, but I would never think it a substitute for in-depthinvestigative journlism, and I doubt Jon Stewart would, either.</p><p> Identification of events andnewsmakers in a poll certainly cannot discern the level of depth of knowledge of thoseevents.</p><p> Many on this site have bemoaned the lack of depth and horrible quality of televisionjournalism, and I can certainly understand the fear that newspaper journalism will follow suit.</p><p> Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink I agree with editrx66 -- and Jon Stewart.</p><p> Those polls or surveys are poorly wordedor misguided.</p><p> You don't really enjoy The Daily Show UNLESS you're alreadyinformed about the day's issues from other sources, you know, tired old media.</p><p> And dkblannar, I believe the core mission of the NYT is to be profitable.</p><p> The best way for them to be profitable and build on their brand is to do what they do well: informed, intelligent, reported news articles.</p><p> What they cannot and never will do well is compete with hundreds of thousands of college kids to create wacky videos thatget lots of hits on YouTube.</p><p> Diversifying into music videos and film shorts withyoung actors improvising their hearts out degrades the brand name value of theNYTimes and diverts precious resources from what they CAN do well to areas theywill NEVER do well.</p><p> The NYTimes website is one of the most successful in theworld and gets zillions of links because of the original news articles and opinionsand reviews.</p><p> Dumbing down the site and losing track of its core identity - timely,accurate, balanced news coverage of breaking events and in-depth features -- willendanger he very profitability they're striving for.</p><p> Making themselves look like Yahooor YouTube or some comedy website is a tempting, but very stupid path for them tomake.</p><p> Computers India Barack Obama Michelle Obama Sports Olympics Housing Crisis Fox News Cars MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » Books by this author A cabin of one's own: New England's MacDowellColony celebrates 100years of artistic utopia.And the gay and lesbianartists who prosperedthere celebrate ... (Thenational gay & lesbiannewsmagazine) by Michael Giltz Affairs to remember:Farley Granger beddedAva Gardner, ShelleyWinters, and LeonardBernstein.</p><p> In hisautobiography, IncludeMe Out, Hitchcock's muse... (The national gay &lesbian newsmagazine) by Michael GiltzJamaica to two islands in Antarctica has HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:49 AM on 03/29/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:08 PM on 03/31/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:32 PM on 03/31/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:24 PM on 03/29/2008This Blogger's Books from Michael Giltz: New York Times: Cutting Staff But Making Movies http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/new-york-times-cutting-st_b_93951.html [4/5/2009 7:18:04 PM] Comments are closed for this entry Thorn See Profile I'm a Fan of Thorn permalink The Times is a private company.</p><p> Your tax dollars aren't involved.</p><p> Why do you apparently think you have a vote? Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink Who said anything about tax dollars? The NYTimes is a venerable institution that I and many others respect and read every day (except Saturdays).</p><p> The trends launched by the NYTimesinvariably influence papers and media outlets around the country.</p><p> If I think the Times is doinga great job in an area (like that terrific article on arms dealers that I linked to), I applaud it.</p><p> If I think it's making a mistake (like diverting energy to time-wasters like music videos and film shorts that are far, far afield of what it does best), I jeer it.</p><p> I don't own stock in NBC but I havean opinion on the sitcoms and dramas it airs.</p><p> What the NYTimes does is far more important.</p><p> And as newspapers everywhere struggle to find their footing amidst declining readership and ads, they're going to make some mistakes.</p><p> This is one of the them.</p><p> If you go to the NYTimeswebsite to see film shorts and YouTube exercises in entertainment, by all means email them and let them know or publish your own commentary.</p><p> As one of the most important media outlets in the world, it would be bizarre if people DIDN'T comment on something radically newby the Times.</p><p> They haven't done it yet, but it would be dumb of them to try developingwebisodes of sitcoms that could be spun off to the major networks or a cable channel.</p><p> Etc. larry278 See Profile I'm a Fan of larry278 permalink The New York Times , "... one of the most important media outlets in the world.",not.</p><p> Mike, you are one of the few users of HP who would comment that the NYT isan important element of the MSM mix any more.</p><p> FYI The NYT is no longerAmerica's sole newspaper of record.</p><p> The NYT can't even be considered to be anewspaper of record among America's newspapers of record.</p><p> The NYT suffers frompoor writing & editing.</p><p> One wonders why SLATE includes the NYT in "Today'sPapers".</p><p> TP is a daily survey of the more important news, etc America's newspapersof record cover.</p><p> Some consider TP as the de facto list of America's newspapers.Others would object to including the dying, lack luster NYT or USA TODAY, aka McPaper, a dumbed down paper with national distribution, short stories which use a limited vocabulary or simple, short words, a number of color photos & simple graphs & other media short comings in a de facto, informal roster of America's newspapers.</p><p> The NYT continues to survive on the basis of the NYT's long past reputation.</p><p> Rupert Murdoch, who now controls the Wall St Jl, has said that he wants to drive the NYTout of business.</p><p> His Rupertship & his editors are turning the WSJ, once the USA'ssole fimancial newspaper of record, into a general interest paper.</p><p> Some feel that theUK's, FINANCIAL TIMES's American ed, has become by default America's financialnewspaper of record.</p><p> There are More Comments on this Thread.</p><p> Click Here To See them All You must be logged in to reply to this comment.</p><p> Log in or Ads by Google "I Cured My Yellow Teeth" Learn how a mom combined 2 products to get turn her teeth sparkly white WhiteTeethAtLast.com Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:06 PM on 03/31/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:34 PM on 03/28/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:02 AM on 03/29/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:51 PM on 03/29/2008Michael Giltz: New York Times: Cutting Staff But Making Movies http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/new-york-times-cutting-st_b_93951.html [4/5/2009 7:18:04 PM]HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING GREEN STYLE WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY FUNDRACE ARCHIVE Advertise | Login | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Jobs | FAQ: Comments & Moderation | FAQ: Huffpost Accounts | Contact Us Copyright © 2009 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | Archive | User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Powered by Movable Type
