Chris Anderson: Free and the Future of Journalism

Post-it note for a digital subscription to The New Yorker and LA Mag:
Hopeless on so many levels

I felt the urge to jot down the above post-it note about two months ago while conducting some personal internet-based research at work.  Glancing at the reminder precariously sitting on my work desk (the stickiness mostly gone by now), the argument against pay walls seems blatantly obvious.

Like most other Gen-Y kids, my limited resources and feelings of uncertainty about the economy make me wary of monthly payments and unnecessary expenditures.  I can get great information and entertainment for free on countless other sites.  So I do.  And in turn The New Yorker goes on a “wish list” for later.  But later could be anywhere from a year to ten years from now.  Since I don’t think I’m the only one prioritizing in such a way, the business model seems a tad flawed.

In Free, Chris Anderson describes “one of the most powerful marketing tools of the twentieth century: giving away one thing to create demand for another.”  In the age of digital journalism, the content on news websites is the free thing, and the targeted ads is the other.  The “route from product to revenue [is] indirect” on a free news site, in that readers don’t pay directly for access to the articles.  Instead the advertisers pay the websites for ad space.

The sometimes-creepy targeted ad tactics are a cost I can deal with, especially considering that the ads can actually helpful.  I’ve discovered new bands, found out about concerts, and learned about new products and companies that really do interest me because of targeted advertising.  Being exposed to an ad doesn’t force me to buy anything, it just increases the chances.  In other words, a demand is created (sometimes) where there wasn’t one before.  Sure, not all the kinks have been worked out perfectly, but every industrial revolution has its period of transition.

Alesia Thomas LAPD Death South Los Angeles

A South L.A. woman taken into custody for suspicion of child endangerment more than a month ago (July 22) became unresponsive in the police car and subsequently died in a local hospital.  Identified as 35-year-old Alesia Thomas, the mother of two children, ages 3 and 12, was leg sweeped before being arrested.

It is unclear why the death is only being reported now, but nevertheless Chief Beck announced:

“I take all in-custody death investigations very seriously and directed that the
officers involved be removed from field duties until further details are known, including what part intoxicants and physical conditions contributed. I’m confident we will get to the truth, no matter where that leads us.”

The investigation actually has led to some uncomfortable revelations, including "questionable tactics and improper comments" on the in-car video.  Unfortunately for the LAPD, the situation adds to the bad rap they've gotten lately for their "use of force" against Michelle Jordan earlier this week.

Promoting with Social Media

VIDEO: LA Artist Michelle Weinstein Wants to Take You to the Fourth Dimension

On a recent visit to the Hammer I had the serendipitous pleasure of running into an old friend of mine, Michelle Weinstein.  She was dining with my cousin, waiting for an event to begin at the Billy Wilder Theatre.  Since she lives on the other side of town and we don't see each other much, we all decided to forgo the short film screening and catch up over hookah in Westwood instead.

In 2007 I had the good fortune of seeing Michelle's first solo exhibition, Orogenesis, in the burgeoning Downtown Arts District.  Since then she's had two more solo exhibits and has been shown in many group exhibits, including ARSG @ LACMA last summer.

Entrance to Orogenesis (2007)

Detailed, fun and abstract.  These are the words I (a person not versed in art theory/history/criticism) would use to briefly describe Michelle's aesthetic.  For a more authoritative verbal illustration I'll quote Marina Cashdan, who reviewed Michelle's 2010 exhibition, Shine, Pershing Republic in Modern Painters:

"Michelle Weinstein's visionary landscapes are delicate and mesmerizing.  Based on the poem, 'Shine, Pershing Republic,' by the 20th-century Californian poet Robinson Jeffers, the images [...] encompass intricate patterns and shapes, depictions of ships, mountains, orbs, trees, and spacecraft, dynamic black and white circles, and sweeps of pale color."

These days Michelle is working on her next exhibit, Fourth, which will be shown in August 2013 at b. sakata garo in Sacramento.  The name, though partly alluding to the idea of "going forth," mostly refers to the fourth dimension, an abstract Euclidean space used in mathematics.  Guided by the works and writings of Alicia Boole Stott and Charles Hinton, the artist aims to "make an aesthetic experience" of space beyond three dimensions.

"I just try and take what they say the result of the four-dimensional object would be and then I try and create those through spaces," said Michelle between hookah puffs.  "They’re really highly patterned.  There’s a lot of movement and motion, but it’s created through stripes."

"Corvus Lama Mala"; Gouache and pencil on Paper, 24"x24", 2011 

Though Michelle says most mathematicians writing on the subject say the fourth dimension cannot be visualized, she still likes thinking about it.

"It's like exercise for the imagination," she said.  "I'm an artist, not a mathematician."

76-Year-Old Woman Stabbed by Grandson in Recovery

The 76-year-old woman who was allegedly stabbed last week by her grandson, Joseph Torres, is most likely "going to pull through," said Lieutenant John Kepley of the Pico Rivera Sherriff's Station on Wednesday evening.

From Whittier Daily News (LASD)

"She was in very serious condition on the night of the incident, but doctors were able to stabilize her," said Kepley.

On August 8, deputies from the Pico Rivera Sheriff's Station responded to a call around 8:30 p.m. stating that 22-year-old Torres had stabbed his grandmother multiple times with a knife, according to a press release.

Whittier Daily News reported that an argument ensued after the woman suggested Torres seek medical help for his mental issues.  Torres' grandfather made the call to 911 after finding the live-in grandson standing next to the grandmother with a knife in his hand.

Torres is being held at Twin Towers Correctional Facility and has been charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and elder abuse.  His arraignment hearing is scheduled for Aug. 30.  He has not entered a plea.

Raphael Saadiq and Band of Skulls Round Out 'Who Shot Rock' Concert Series

“At capacity,” said Carol Laumen of the Annenberg Foundation.  It was her confident prediction for turnout at Saturday's third and final concert of the KCRW Live @ Who Shot Rock series, featuring the soulful Raphael Saadiq and Brit rock threesome, Band of Skulls.  Created to complement Annenberg Space for Photography's current exhibition, Who Shot Rock and Roll, previous headliners Moby and Portugal. The Man set the precedent for Laumen's expectations.

Concert goers peruse the Space's new complementary outdoor exhibit before the show starts

“We are breaking record attendance, record merchandise sales,” she said of the exhibit.  And the Space's sometimes sleepy Thursday evening lecture series, Iris Nights, have also drawn at capacity crowds.  The photographers show off more of their pictures that weren't included in the exhibit, which Laumen described as "icing on the cake."

Although we should feel lucky that the traveling 166-print exhibit runs until October 7th before heading abroad, it is unfortunate that the concerts were so few.  This is the first time the Space has hosted concerts in conjunction with an exhibit, and it's hard to imagine a more fitting theme.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they come up with more excuses to merge music with art (maybe akin to the Getty's Saturdays off the 405).

Raphael Saadiq grooves on stage at the Century City plaza

Indeed, the series even garnered attention from Rolling Stone, which hailed Saadiq's cover of Bob Dylan's "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat."  (There's an entire section of the exhibit dedicated solely to Dylan).

"The folk-blues classic swung hard with a warm funk flavor, a fitting collision of styles for the occasion," wrote Steve Appleford on the Rolling Stone's website.  The evening "also marked the release of Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan,"  a new album honoring Amnesty International's 50th Anniversary.  More than 80 artists, including Saadiq and Band of Skulls, contributed to the Dylan cover album.

Band of Skulls vocalist/guitarist Russell Marsden belting it out via @LarylGarcia

With all the praise by the media and the public, let's keep our fingers crossed that Annenberg and KCRW team up again.  Century City needs more of this:

Band of Skulls absolutely melting my face.#kcrwpresents #whoshotrock @kcrwinstagr.am/p/N7vS5dnTN4/
— Jeremiah Garcia (@JeremiahGarcia) August 5, 2012

Venice Kush House catches fire

Photo courtesy of www.YoVenice.com

One of the last turn-of-the-century homes in Venice almost went up in smoke Sunday afternoon, according to @Venice311.  Currently for rent and seated at Oceanfront Walk and Sunset Ave, the two-story house has been host to a medical marijuana club as well as an MTV set.

Photo courtesy of @Venice311

The fire was reported at 12:20 pm and was put out within 10 minutes.  Although it is unclear if the house was occupied, no injuries were reported.

Observations of LAO

Founded in 2003, LA Observed covers media, politics, business and "sense of place" in Los Angeles.  Kevin Roderick - founder, editor and publisher of the site - writes the majority of the content, with Mark Lacter (business editor) coming in at a close second.  Judy Graeme, the third editor (arts and culture), had no articles posted during the time I visited the site. LAO has over 20 other contributors, though in the three days I monitored the site, only two others (Ellen Alperstein and Iris Schneider) showed up on the home page with significant articles.  And they were actually leftovers from Sunday.

As stated in the "About" section of the website, "Our attitude might be a tad subtle for some tastes.  We like it that way."  Indeed, the level of opinion and spin in the writing is relatively low.  Nevertheless, as most of the articles are written by either Roderick or Lacter, the point of view tends to be that of an older, white male, as evidenced by the issues they choose to cover.  I also found it interesting that they do not edit articles submitted by contributors.

Around 10 articles are posted throughout each day, with the majority containing 1-3 paragraphs by the author, followed by excerpts from the source and a link to the source's site.  Each morning Roderick publishes a "Morning Buzz" post, while Lacter posts a similar "[Insert day] Headlines," which seems to focus more on business-related news.  With the exception of these types of posts, all of the articles had at least one picture, and some also had video.

I liked reading LA Observed for what it is: fairly straight news with content related to Los Angeles.  However, I particularly enjoyed reading Alperstein's feature article, "High Season for Wrangling Rattlers."  It was a great story full of character and LA imagery.

A Tale of Two News Sites

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times for Gawker and the New York Times' home pages, respectively.  The content and tone of Gawker is varied, but leans on lighter subjects with humorous delivery.  The stories at the top of the page include content on film, immigration, celebrities, politics, and one that reads, "Disasters: Record Drought Set to Ruin America's Pizza Consumption" (weather/business?).  I had never been on Gawker before, so I was impressed and surprised by this mix of subject matter.


Meanwhile on  the Times' website, three of the 4 1/2 stories that showed up on the top of the screen had Damascus and/or Syria in the caption; the main article (the only one with a full picture) had Mali in the caption; and the last 1/2 article (it was cut off, and so was it's small picture) was about DirecTV.  That means four world articles and one business/entertainment.  The content was therefore more heavy and tone tilted on the side of serious, but that's what the New York Times is.  Still, the lack of variation in content at the top of the home page seems problematic.

Will the internet become the guillotine for journalism's Ancien Regime?

The most notable (and in my opinion the most important) difference between the homepage of Gawker and the New York Times is the presentation.  With the scroll bar all the way at the top on the front page, the screen for Gawker shows one large still from the new Batman movie that takes up about a third of the page. Under it is caption in very large font and some social media sharing buttons, and at the bottom is a fuller caption with two lines that span almost half the page.  On the right hand side of the page is a scrollable list of new content, ordered by the time it was posted.  Every post has a short title of about 1-4 words, a caption of 2-4 lines, and a picture next to it.  On the top right is one big Nokia ad.  Overall it looks organized, easy to navigate and has a lot of white space.  The page kind of tells the viewer what to read, and eases her or him into the information-consuming experience.


The layout of the New York Times' home page is overwhelming.  In the middle of the screen is a photo of Mali refugee women with their children; it takes up about 1/9 of the space.  There are 4 1/2 stories spread around the page, with titles varying in font size and meaty captions.  On the very left are two lists of content categories with different fonts; the top category seems to be traditional beats and the bottom one is "other beats," for lack of a better work.  (I noticed that "Style" is in the top category while "Fashion and Style" is in the bottom category).  On the right side of the page there's a little spot with stock market information.  The page has 4 1/2 ads scattered around, plus a banner ad for a digital subscription to the Times that is more eye-catching than the Times' actual logo.  In general it is very wordy, difficult to navigate and there is not much white space throughout.  I think the "1/2" stories/pictures/ads particularly showcase how it is not well designed from a viewer's standpoint.


In sum, the creators of Gawker must have looked at the dimensions of a computer screen and saw a blank canvas, while the editors of the New York Times saw a place to tape up newspaper clippings.