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Controversy Over Rhee Now to Include Sex, Congress
The above caption and photo accompanies an nbcwashington.com story written by Wonkette's Jim Newell.
Last year, local NBC news affiliate WRC/NBC4's web site got a major facelift. Gone was the relatively dull NBC4.com, and in its place was a nationally-launched web site template, in this case nbcwashington.com, that's trying to be both a home for the news content of WRC, as well as its own online brand, offering aggregated and exclusive content on top of the station's regular stories.
In a media landscape where everyone's scrambling to compete with blogs and aggregators and carve out a toehold on the internet, the move made sense. But lately, the product itself is getting some major pushback from readers.
The problem? Nbcwashington.com is trying to offer a variety of content, from videos, to straight news stories, to bloggier, lighter pieces. The funny stuff has largely been outsourced to freelancers Jim Newell and Sara K. Smith, both associate editors of political satire site Wonkette.com. Each are writing one or two exclusive posts a day for nbcwashington.com, often about a local D.C. politics story, and they are writing them exactly as if they were intended for Wonkette. But nbcwashington.com has placed Newell's and Smith's comedy pieces into the same Local News stream where readers expect to find regular news stories. If you subscribe to nbcwashington.com's Local News-specific RSS feed, on any given day you can be treated to a list of headlines that range from, as they did last Wednesday, standard local TV news fare like "Man Shot, Killed in Hyattsville" and "Follow Proper Netiquette on Social Networking Sites," to "Becoming Mr. Policeman Is So Easy Now," a comedy piece penned by Newell based on reporting by the Examiner.
Want to be a cop for a day? Well of course not. (You could get terribly murdered!) But if you want to be a cop for free because, who knows, maybe you're bored being unemployed and sitting at home playing Xbox, the process is pretty easy now. Just ask one lady!
The same tone and style you expect on Wonkette, more or less. Which might work, if nbcwashington.com differentiated at all between Newell's comedy posts and their straight crime and service journalism stories. But they don't really. Instead, readers have to scroll down to the bottom to find a cryptic, possible explainer noting that "Jim Newell locks people up for Wonkette and IvyGate." For casual local news readers, folks who don't spend their time on political comedy blogs and are just looking for the day's headlines, how do these types of posts, tucked in between serious news stories, resonate? Just check out the comments.
"Was this article written by a 12 year old?"
"my first grader writes stories better then this. and this is a "professional" news agency?!?! Stop trying to be something your not"
"this is horrible writing, what in the world. im so tired of this writing on this site, im considering going elsewhere for my news."
Or head over here, to another one of Newell's stories, posted Friday, about Michelle Obama's plans to install a White House vegetable garden, in which Newell jokes that "Fat people everywhere are expected to hold a Teabagging Party to protest this cowardly move." More comments:
"I thought this would be a news article and it turns out to be another negative rant from someone's personal blog instead of a serious news item. I think it's great to see the White House become people friendly and realistic. A lot of us are growing our veggies these days and how dare you try to make it seem un-American! What an Idiot!!!"
"I can't believe that NBC allows it's reporters/writers to post such garbage on their website. I believe in freedom of press/speech and all that, but this takes the cake!"
"Wow, I thought I clicked on a link to a news article, not someone's facebook page."
Now, we're the last people to hold up outraged commenters as the absolute authority on anything, but these nbcwashington.com readers just seem genuinely, legitimately confused. For their part, nbcwashington.com is standing by their product and how it is presented.
"Our new city website features commentary, news, entertainment and information," said nbcwashington.com managing editor Jim Iovino in an email to DCist. "We’re not a traditional news site and are no longer a direct extension of the local TV station."
"Keeping pace with the pulse of the city not only means reporting on the biggest stories, but also reflecting the emotions and mood of local residents, which can be at times serious and at other times, irreverent, witty or even outrageous. The best content invites participation and comments," Iovino said.
No one wants to be accused of being humorless or unable to understand satire, but what do you think, DCist readers? Can you understand why nbcwashington.com readers might be confused, or do you think they just ought to be more internet savvy and less uptight?
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Oh Sommer. You can pretend you didn't read this last week, but I'm not buying it.
More than worthwhile, for shear entertainment alone.
Newell's baiting replies are brilliant, and only serve to confuse the readers even further.
they really should post some kind of a disclaimer, but i agree this is some funny stuff.
"Our new city website features commentary, news, entertainment and information," said nbcwashington.com managing editor Jim Iovino in an email to DCist. "We’re not a traditional news site and are no longer a direct extension of the local TV station."
Hmmm, scatological story placement, terrible writing, inappropriate presentation... I'd say that the Web site is EXACTLY like the TV station.
Wonkette is a steaming diarrhea-flavored hot toddy these days. That blog jumped the shark what, three or four years ago?
Funny you should mention that, but I read in the Washington Business Journal that Wonkette was rebranding itself as a low-end fast-casual competitor to Starbucks in the steaming-diarrhea-flavored hot toddy purveyor department. And while their Frozen Crappuccino® reminds one of a hazelnut tour of Dante's Inferno, their Tall Skim Dumpio® leaves much to be desired, predominately an absence of corn, "floaters," and "lazy susans."
Hey! I commented on this earlier today here:
http://dcist.com/2009/03/morning_roundup_334.php
For once I agree with you Sommer: Let's just do away with blogging altogether. The world will be a far better place without this failed exercise in pseudo-journalism, and as a bonus, no more commenters!
Am I the only one who found "Man Shot, Killed in Hyattsville" to be the funniest? Not ha-ha funny, mind. But funny in a 'just another day in Hatersville' kind of way. Just another classic Ward 9 mishap.
WONKETTE IS A SITE FOR THE DRUNKS & DOPEHEADS! IT WANTS PEOPLE TO BUY THERE TRUCKNUTS & ENGAGE IN BUTTSECTS! NEWEL & SMITH ARE ELITITS, NO REAL AMERICANS.
What are ELITITS? Manboobs on Jewish guys?
I WAZ GRADUAT OF TEXAS SCHOOL SYSTUM.
If you're going to have a news/satire site, you should differentiate between the two... and actually be funny.
I don't have a problem with light comedy pieces conceptually. But most of Newell's comedy that I have read on NBC4 has been pretty... er... obvious.
I mean.. "do the unpaid citizen-cops get guns?" Is that really clever enough to be the centerpiece joke of an article? If there had been a DCist piece about the same issue the very first commenter would have said that. In order to be funny you have to have more insight than a 12 year old.
It's weird because I like his writing on Wonkette mostly, though, so I don't know if he's dumbing it down the mainstream or what. But it just seems to fall flat.
"my first grader writes stories better then this. and this is a "professional" news agency?!?! Stop trying to be something your not"
This comment was obviously actually written by a first grader. LOL!!!!
Jim Vance should punch them all out at NBC 4. Besides, if they're not using Blingee on all the pictures, then how can I recognize it as Wonkette-style humor?
Try this piece of BS on for size, where one of the fine journalists on the hip, swingin' nbcwashington.com website mocks the death of a sick old woman: http://www.nbcwashington.com/around_town/shopping/Shopaholic-Dies-in-Avalanche-of-Clothing.html
I'd be curious to hear from Mr. Iovino how humorously recounting the death of an elderly English woman with a mental problem (and calling her "girl" and "girlfriend") helps to keep "pace with the pulse of the city." I've crapped out better text. As have most of us, I imagine.
Yeah, I saw that when I checked in to nbc4.com, and thought "wtf?".
A little snark goes a long way. Their stories have become tiresome.
Adolph Hitler is alive and living in New Jersey. Who knew?
A clever ploy by the failing broadcast media to discourage blog reading and force a desperate public back to TV news.
Nobody is that desperate.
http://wonkette.com/407189/407189
http://wonkette.com/407603/acorn-now-providing-obamas-drugs-ha-ha-it-is-comedy-from-time-magazine