The Precipitous Demise of Institutional Media

[Zero Cool]

I was reading Don's transcript of the phone call he had with the call center rep at the NYT when he called in to cancel his subscription and I started thinking. I remembered that I also had forgotten to cancel my NYT subscription. I also remembered that the last time I called they offered the sub to me for a mere $4 a month (I said $5/month was still too much). I'm pretty sure that they would have given me the online sub for literally one cent if I had kept going just to hold on to the sub.

Anyways, this got me to thinking about traditional and centralized media at large. I started to think about "nu-media" companies like buzzfeed and vice both of which I really haven't read or seen in quite some time as I deleted all of my social media pages back in 2016. I have a bad habit of just assuming that things are unpopular just because I no longer pay attention to them. This is to say that I have no idea how these sorts of outlets are doing but I keep hearing from every corner of the internet that they are failing. The few articles I do read seem to confirm this as they are all clickbait garbage that reek of desperation. This trend in media to go completely over the top and acquire "hate clicks" has seemed to go beyond print journalism and has creeped its way into television shows, movies, and even video games. It seems that the only way to generate buzz in a world so over saturated with "entertainment" options is to make something so ridiculous that even the most cynical internet user will flip their lid over it in disgust.

This theory especially holds up when applied to streaming platforms like netflix, hulu, and amazon prime video. Pretty much every media company at this point is trying to establish their own paid streaming service (Disney, CBS etc) and are pulling the IPs they own from the other streaming services. Of course there are original series being produced by netflix, hulu, and prime video but in my opinion these are all just embarrassing attempts to cater to niche markets that the marketing departments at these companies don't fully understand or respect. Clearly this strategy isn't working on anyone except for "that guy" at your office park complex who won't shut up about "Rape Torture Slit-throat Porn: The Show" and keeps telling you to watch it. It's all going to backfire on them as this is a pretty consumer hostile move that people just aren't willing to live with. I feel like most people are more likely to just not watch a movie than go through the Disney paywall or whatever just to get it. I know that I won't.

I also wanted to mention the hubris of traditional television networks. It seems that pretty much all of them have made their own streaming platforms at this point assuming of course that "cable cutters" are going to scramble to get access to their content. This suggests to me that within the walls of CBS there is a corporate culture of self assuring dickheads that truly think that their garbage truck shitpiss content is something that viewers actively seek out and don't just watch b/c they're sitting at home all day on unemployment and changing channels is hard after putting down 4 mad-dog 20/20s by 1pm. Basically it's all so embarrassing and CBS All Access is a joke that will certainly result in demise of CBS (among other unnamed media outlets).

How have you contributed to the slow but sure demise of traditional media outlets today?

[Kobold]

The legacy media can't collapse soon enough. Remember that the worst thing you can do to them is simply ignore them.

[weaksausage]

Never owned a social media account in my life. Although I do still love watching the news. Recently I have been watching Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews for a good laugh or sometimes to yell at the TV.