Abramson out as NYT editor, Baquet replaces her

Re: Abramson out and NYT editor, Baquet replaces her

It's by far the best newspaper Web site out there, including various related apps.

But the folks at Upworthy are Very Concerned that the paper isn't telling us 26 Ways Barack Obama's Tie Is Like An Armadillo Egg Shell, and Jill Abramson isn't sending out messages about "wning a pully" on a soon-to-be-dead medium ... so none of that counts.

 

Re: Abramson out and NYT editor, Baquet replaces her

How soon is Twitter dead?

 

Re: Abramson out and NYT editor, Baquet replaces her

4-5 years.

 

Re: Abramson out and NYT editor, Baquet replaces her

Yes. it's the best newspaper website.

BFD.

There's a whole new world out there. And, if they had been more web savvy, they could have moved into some of that space, instead of ceding it to upstarts.

And, it's not me saying they have problems. An internal report, put together by a team, led in part by the Publisher's son, says they have a problem and one of them is “a cadre of editors who remain unfamiliar with the web.”

Now, I don't want to go full Devil here, and start linking to Dictionary.com, but "cadre" certainly refers to a group of people.

Abramson and Baquet were the top editors. They set the tone.

As for twitter, it's a communication tool. The Times is in the communication business. Why would the top two editors not use this tool. Multiple journalists at the Times use it to their advantage, right? The Times certainly supports this. Shouldn't they be taking part as part of an overall digital strategy?

 

Re: Abramson out and NYT editor, Baquet replaces her

You can "get" the net and want very little to do with Twitter.

Being way into Twitter is not a sign you necessarily get the net.

A lot of the Internet hipsters who boast about how hip they are with regards to the net would shit their pants if forced to make the kind of decisions Abramson and now Baquet face daily.

There are great journalists who are great at Twitter and terrible journalists who are great at Twitter. The terrible ones are those who think that getting retweets and favs really means something when all that really matters is eyeballs.

It's an echo chamber and it can be helpful, but it's hilarious that some tweeters have convinced themselves their tweets about, say, NSA wiretapping are as important as the actual reporting.

 

Re: Abramson out and NYT editor, Baquet replaces her

Twitter is not as mainstream as you think it is.

It's going to be buried next to GeoCities in the tech graveyard. Soon, too.

 

Re: Abramson out and NYT editor, Baquet replaces her

Not a surprise. Many aggregators think they are actually reporting.

 

Re: Abramson out and NYT editor, Baquet replaces her

So you mean my Flooze.com coupons are still worthless?

 

Re: Abramson out and NYT editor, Baquet replaces her

Twitter's stock has been moving south by southeast for a month now because Wall Street has finally figured out that the people who aren't on Twitter now are that way because they don't need it. I spend my working days on the net and in the cloud. I'm not on Twitter. It's just another time sink. I'd rather spend that time thinking about golf or planning menus.

 

Re: Abramson out and NYT editor, Baquet replaces her

I do think there is an outsize emphasis on Twitter. In sports, it does have value in that it may be the best way to get unvarnished quotes from athletes, and the best way to figure out that Jim Irsay is illiterate.

 

Re: Abramson out and NYT editor, Baquet replaces her

They didn't even care enough to tweet #bringbackourgirls.

But, seriously, it's true, they don't need to be proficient with, or prolific on, Twitter to prove their worth.

Certainly twitter is part of the Times digital strategy. And, their top two editors (now, just top editor) don't use it at all.

The bosses set the tone at any work place. And if there is a cadre of editors who are not familiar with the web, it's because Abramson and Baquet didn't demand them to be familiar with it, and probably weren't especially familiar with it themselves.

The twitter thing isn't conclusive, but it does look symptomatic.

 

Re: Abramson out and NYT editor, Baquet replaces her

Dick, I think it will be around for awhile, but we'll see. I used to loathe those people said stuff like "Why don't you put that energy/effort into reporting and writing?" but I'm conning around to the idea that there is a lot of truth to it.

It's an ego stroke. I wish I could quit the damn thing. There are suddenly plenty of writers is like a lot more if they has zero social media presence.