funding – Moe Lane

The future of journalism? Probably neo-feudalism.

…advertising dollars are shrinking. We just can’t charge as much for Web advertising as we used to for print advertising. A decade ago, when I entered professional journalism and began earnestly discussing its financial future, there was a reasonable case that, eventually, digital advertising would be worth more than print advertising — you could precisely target it, after all, and measure its effects. As soon as we got better at building digital ad products and educated advertisers, in theory we’d be in better shape than ever.

That theory has, alas, been pretty well destroyed by the last 10 years. Advertisers still won’t pay print rates for digital. Worse, the money that does get spent on digital advertising increasingly isn’t going to news outlets; it’s going to Google and Facebook and Yahoo.

Continue reading The future of journalism? Probably neo-feudalism.

Gitmo closing not to be funded.

“The rule is – jam yesterday, jam tomorrow, but never jam today.”
– Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There

Fresh from Senator Webb’s decision to play bellwether – or Judas goat? – on the retreat from Gitmo (see also here) we have this latest word on the Matter of Gitmo:

AP source: Democrats won’t fund Guantanamo closing

By ANDREW TAYLOR – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s allies in the Senate will not provide funds to close the Guantanamo Bay prison until the administration comes up with a satisfactory plan for transferring the detainees there, a top Democrat said Tuesday.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said Obama’s plan to close Guantanamo is not dead — only that the funding will have to wait until the administration devises an acceptable plan to handle the closure and transfer the detainees. Obama has promised to close the military prison by January.

[snip]

It appears to be a tactical retreat. Once the administration develops a plan to close the facility, congressional Democrats are likely to revisit the topic, provided they are satisfied there are adequate safeguards.

Continue reading Gitmo closing not to be funded.

Netroot Advertising and the sense of entitlement.

Both Eugene Volokh of the Volokh Conspiracy and James Rummel of Chicago Boyz (via Instapundit) have weighed in on the Great Lefty Netroot Querulously Outstretched Hands Scandal – yes, the name needs work – and I thought that I’d just combine my commentary on both. First, Eugene was right to note that there’s something a little odd about demanding advertising from an organization just because you’re using them as a resource… oh, did I just type that out?

Silly me; that’s the dirty little secret that the Lefty blogs don’t really want to talk about (although Rummel will, and does). What the Online Left sells to its readership is relevance: at least, at the top levels – which is really the level that matters on that side. When you read them, you’re reading a site that’s connected. You have access… or, at least, you’re reading someone who has access; and that person swears and makes rude statements, so you know that you’re not reading just some pundit. No, you’re reading someone who is a gateway between you, and the people who matter.
Continue reading Netroot Advertising and the sense of entitlement.

Yeah. We all had a good laugh about the funding thing.

AllahPundit’s just the latest one I’ve seen who’s done it: it being “rolling his/her eyes at watching the left-sphere poor-mouth their lack of ad revenue.” Apparently, we’re all rolling in that sweet, sweet, advertising dough over here, while they’re being imposed upon by their compatriots for no recompense at all. No, really. This is going to shock the rest of us over at sites like RedState, Right Wing News, Protein Wisdom, Sister Toldjah, and well, myself*; none of us have a seven-figure yearly budget. Heck, some of us don’t have a budget, period.

And at least a couple of sites on that list should. You gotta speculate if you want to accumulate, as Terry Pratchett‘s been known to say.

[UPDATE]: Heh. I suspect that Glenn Reynolds is raising one eyebrow. Just a tad. He goes for minimalist, sometimes.

Moe Lane

*Not that my personal site’s traffic level is comparable to the first two, but what the heck: I still have a laptop replacement drive going on (click the Donate button to the right), and I am registered with BlogAds.

And if not me, well, I’m sure that you read somebody that’s worthy of tip-jar hitting.