by von
I have three questions regarding PJM's abrupt decision to wind down its blog network so that they can focus on what PJM supposedly does best: streaming video. Here they are:
Does PJM still refuse to carry porn?
Was PJM the outfit that sent "Joe the Plumber" to Israel?
Were Dennis the Peasant's comments in October, 2005, shall we say, on the nose?
Buzzz! The answers are yes, yes, and yes. Well, then: this adventure into streaming video should be an astounding success! Huzzah! Summon the venture capitalists! PJM requires more of this thing that you call "dollars."
And if this whole watching-Glenn-and-Helen-Reynolds-on-the-intertubes-thingy doesn't work out, maybe Roger Simon can get a job in public relations. (Did Roger just write that PJM's stable of bloggers were "on the dole" because PJM screwed up and overpaid them? He did? Roger, you're PJM's frackin' CEO. You're the one who approved the crappy pricing model and you're the one leading PJM into the toilet .... and, yet, you're still getting paid. Whaddaya call that?)
leading PJM into the toilet
One might argue no leading was required. Might.
Posted by: Ugh | February 02, 2009 at 03:54 PM
what von said.
Posted by: Eric Martin | February 02, 2009 at 04:04 PM
"and, yet, you're still getting paid. Whaddaya call that?"
His own little private stimulus plan.
Posted by: John Miller | February 02, 2009 at 04:14 PM
"Whaddaya call that?"
Effective corporate management, Republican Party style.
Posted by: (The Original) Francis | February 02, 2009 at 04:55 PM
"and, yet, you're still getting paid. Whaddaya call that?"
The way the world works. At leasz he hasn't paid himself a bonus.
Posted by: Mike Schilling | February 02, 2009 at 05:34 PM
Were Dennis the Peasant's comments in October, 2005, shall we say, on the nose?
I'm not sure. The common wisdom is that PJM's revenue model was unworkable. DtP said that the model is fine, but creating a market for online advertising requires actual effort; you can't just build it and expect them to come. I don't know which is correct.
Posted by: Mike Schilling | February 02, 2009 at 05:36 PM
I don't know whether PJM's model was unworkable or not, but several folks who consulted with PJM early on indicate that the larger problems lay with the people, not the model. Aside from Dennis -- who is, shall we say, an excitable source -- there's Tim Oren. Oren's criticism supports Dennis' criticism: http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/rip_pajamas_media_ad_network.html
Posted by: von | February 02, 2009 at 06:01 PM
I'm a conservative. I never read PJM except by accident of link. Does that make me a bad conservative?
Posted by: Sebastian | February 02, 2009 at 06:27 PM
Wait, isn't one of the Politico's main reporters Roger Simon? I hope this is a case of different people, same name.
Posted by: Meditative_Zebra | February 02, 2009 at 06:30 PM
"...You're the one who approved the crappy pricing model and you're the one leading PJM into the toilet .... and, yet, you're still getting paid. Whaddaya call that?"
Standard conservative economic theories in action: 2009 version.
Posted by: Jay C | February 02, 2009 at 06:32 PM
Effective corporate management, Republican Party style.
Johnson and Simon are both 9-11 “republicans”. That is, they were both liberal until the day they were mugged.
But yeah, DtP called it. Who is making money on the Internet beyond porn, Amazon, and E-Bay?
It is somewhat scary that the Internet is replacing meat-space businesses, but it is doing so in a way that does not offer many options for actually making money. We all want our ice-cream for free – self included.
Posted by: OCSteve | February 02, 2009 at 06:54 PM
"Wait, isn't one of the Politico's main reporters Roger Simon? I hope this is a case of different people, same name."
Yes, the reporter Roger Simon is a different person than Roger L. Simon of PJ, Moses Wine, some screenplays, etc.
"That is, they were both liberal until the day they were mugged."
Roger was already long turning more and more conservative before 9/11, although that, and the whole coalescence of the rightwing blogosphere afterwards, in the wake of much less partisan newsblogging in the first year after 9/11, obviously accelerated Roger's turn-around greatly.
His The Lost Coast in 1997, for instance, was already rather conservative in tone, and Roger complained that that's why he was dumped by his publisher (unlikely -- publishers don't care much about the politics of their writers; they care about sales figures). (See linked review for details on the stance of the book and character.)
Posted by: Gary Farber | February 02, 2009 at 07:19 PM
But yeah, DtP called it. Who is making money on the Internet beyond porn, Amazon, and E-Bay?
I think lots of people who sell tangible stuff are doing OK, including, of course, brick-and-mortar businesses with an online distribution channel. But no one seems to know how to make a profit on is "content", largely because no one knows how to monetize eyeballs. Dennis the Peasant's criticism of PJM was largely that their business model depended on doing just that, but didn't include any budget for learning how.
Posted by: Mike Schilling | February 02, 2009 at 08:40 PM
I haven't kept up with all this, so my reaction is ill-informed. But if PJTV is going to be anything like bloggingheads it's not going to work.
IMO, the museum of boredom contains few items more tedious than videos of bloggers arguing with each other.
Posted by: Bernard Yomtov | February 02, 2009 at 09:09 PM
If one looks at the internet along the lines of a force multiplier rather than something that creates something, I think you get a better picture.
BTW, did anyone get hurt in the Ma.gnolia meltdown?
Posted by: liberal japonicus | February 02, 2009 at 09:44 PM
That is, they were both liberal until the day they were mugged.
Except they weren't actually mugged. A quibble, perhaps, but there it is.
Posted by: russell | February 02, 2009 at 10:50 PM