CNN blogger fired for blogging.
Anonymous patent lawyer blogger “unmasks” himself after a $15,000 bounty was put on his head.
Adventures in anonymous blogging
Editor, publisher, factual entertainer.
Published February 26, 2008 4:58 am
6 Comments
“Allan” 10:56 PM
“I think I’d have to respond as Hunter Thompson did to old age and shoot myself (but then, he didn’t have any children)”
It was Thompson’s son that discovered his body – as for shooting yourself, well, go ahead, make my day.
The bounty for unmasking the ever annoying “Allan” has now been increased to $20.00
Charming. I read the whole long post, and then knew what I wanted to say. His justifications and the way he painted management told me the story.
None of us are over the moon about CNN since shortly after Ted Turner left, but we all still think it’s the best.
Whoever this guy thinks he is with getting space on the Huffington Post doesn’t make him smarter than CNN. Blogging in itself is not evidence of having a superior mind (cough).
Afterwards I read the comments and found that a surprising number of people were also not buying it. That was encouraging.
So how much more homework do I need to do?
But you’re flirting with some good comments about news consultants.
What a scam.
Take City TV News. Very formulaic. Watch in Toronto, Vancouver or Victoria and it’s the same over-hyped, tightly controlled flow of amateur hack job news reporting. Sure there are some good ideas there that others should emulate, but imagine if theirs were the number one newscast and everybody copied them. I think I’d have to respond as Hunter Thompson did to old age and shoot myself (but then, he didn’t have children).
Broadcasters who don’t know what they’re doing hire consultants.
Some think they do, and hire Katie Curic, proving that people at the top of the hierarchy don’t necessarily have a friggin’ clue.
Put news in the hands of those with a passion for it, and leave it in the hands of those who excel.
Even if Arthur Kent was in complete control of a powerful news service (say, Newsworld), and flamed out, it would at least have been an exciting ride.
I accept that Tony Burman had the credentials to be credible, but look what he became after hanging too long at the TBC – a mindless, stupid bureaucrat. When I examine his efforts in the recent past, his goals and ambitions become quite obvious. To impress and bask in the acceptance of his peers in some old boys club when truly no one gives a rat’s ass about him or his opinions. Because he long ago gave up caring what the public thought, let alone giving them what they deserve – THE NEWS!
The CBC can copy and emulate the Foxes and MSNBC’s and give us personality driven news, and it still won’t lose it’s soul.
It’ll just cover it up real good, till we forget it was ever there.
The trouble with Allan is that he hasn’t read the entire Deus Ex Malontent blog.
Chez is right on in his latest post.
In fact it sounds VERY familiar
Management can convene all the “average viewer” focus-groups it wants, then accept as gospel the opinions of a bunch of people who probably just showed up for the free food; it can do a minute-by-minute ratings breakdown, which as far as the executives can tell would seem to indicate that the anchor’s half-second hiccup just before tossing to weather is the reason 30-thousand people suddenly made the collective decision to change the channel. (Believe me, Kafka couldn’t have invented a more surreal and ritualistic ordeal than being forced to sit in an office with a group of seemingly intelligent higher-ups while they over-analyze and knee-jerk react to this kind of worthless crap.) Management can take all the institutional psychology and “Intro to Chaos Theory” classes it wants; it can commission AR&D, Magid, Broadcast Image and Rick James TV Consultants, Bitch, of Studio 54 and the China Club to take the entire staff on a retreat to a nudist camp in the Poconos; management can do all of these things and more — none of it will ensure that anyone will be sitting in front of that TV watching a given channel at a given time.
Permalink is http://www.deusexmalcontent.com/2008/02/all-about-ed-epilogue.html
Allan do your homework or you should be unmasked and told to stand in a corner of the atrium until your Mommy comes to get you and bring you home.
I will now increase the bounty to unmask “Allan” to five Canadian dollars.
CNN Blogger
252 comments and not one of them from me.
Yet. Enjoyed this very much, thanks for the find.
Puts a lot on the table.
But it’s kind of the same BS we’ve heard before by someone recently terminated.
Sour grapes. He’s wrong. They were right to fire him. The function he served was dispensable, and he had been purposely naive. He though he could smoke dope openly anywhere, any time.
He wanted to believe the rules had been re-written, without getting it in writing.
New media hasn’t changed the rules, just moved power to a more competitive, broader and less regulated Vertical Mosaic.
But it hasn’t changed the nature of man, nor the rights of man.
I would like to offer a $2.00 bounty to unmask “Allan”