Thursday, July 18, 2013

I Never Met Peter Travers (And I Probably Never Will)

                Recently, one of the last major publishers of magazines took to putting a known terrorist on the cover of one of their issues.   As they had hoped, this created a lot of buzz, though I doubt that will translate to sales.

                What people need to understand is that, in 2013, as I type this, print media is dead.   Do I wish it was?  Absolutely not.   But it is.  This shameless attempt at attention is proof of that, but really, people shouldn’t be mad because this type of thing happens far too often.

                The message that this issue of Rolling Stone sends to people who have twisted and warped enough minds to commit such acts is this:  “If you don’t have talent and can’t make it into our pages as an actor, musician, artist or whatever else we write about, just blow some people up and you can share history with Britney Spears and Johnny Depp”.  

                This is not a message that anyone should want to convey, and furthermore when the next psycho comes out and does something like this, will Rolling Stone take any credit?   When the person who murdered your family gets on the cover of Rolling Stone, will you then play the freedom of speech card?

                Okay, now he’s the true confession from someone who is willing to tell you like it is.  

                You remember when I told you that print media is dead?  Oh, it still is, but the fact is that even online news reporting has taking a turn for the worst.   I fully understand that as a writer myself this is not something that I should be saying (because in some ways it points out that I’m not really needed), but hey, let’s break it down for you anyway.

                Once upon a time, people got their news delivered to them every day, sometimes up to twice a day, in a newspaper.  Now they get their news immediately via text messaging, among other avenues.   Not only has the world turned digital, but it has cut out anything that once before seemed necessary to journalism and placed it all in the hands of amateurs.

                Question:  How many of you go to a website to read reviews of music, movies, television, or whatever?   With social media, how many of you just read your Facebook newsfeed or what your friends are saying on Twitter about things such as those instead?   Odds also might be good that at least one of your friends has a blog, so maybe you read that.

                The point is, whenever you get a DVD from a mainstream store it usually has press quotes from Peter Travers of Rolling Stone pasted all over it.   But I’ve never met Peter Travers, never even seen so much as a picture of him, so why should I trust his taste in movies?  (Additionally, don’t you feel as if Mr. Travers has seen enough movies in his vast years that he might be burnt out?)

                So you turn to your friends.   And it’s not like you have to go to school or set up some sort of arrangement to get together in order to ask them what new movies they’ve seen that they like.   No, you simply read their Facebook feed and they most likely divulge the information without anyone ever asking for it.   I know I would personally much rather poll my Facebook friends for suggestions on thing than trust someone who writes for these big publications that now have turned into websites and, well, the people there might as well be anonymous for all we know.


                Once upon a time, people did rely on the critic for reviews of things.   Now, the sad truth is that anyone with an iPhone can be a critic.   Anyone with a Facebook or Twitter account can become your source for finding out what’s new and good.  

No comments:

Post a Comment