NOTES

INTRODUCTION

1. Tucker Max e-mailed Daulerio in June 2009 about a Deadspin story that incorrectly guessed the identity of someone in one of Tucker’s exploits. Daulerio’s candor was breathtaking. In addition to his line about gossip blogging being “professional wrestling,” he said, about the speculative errors, “Honestly, I could give a fuck who it is, intrepid reporter or not, so cover your ass, their ass, as much as you feel is necessary for this. You keep doing whatever it is you’re doing, and I’ll do the same.”

I: BLOGS MAKE THE NEWS

1. Jeremy W. Peters, “Political Blogs Are Ready to Flood Campaign Trail,” New York Times, January 29, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/business/media/30blogs.html.

II: HOW TO TURN NOTHING INTO SOMETHING IN THREE WAY-TOO-EASY STEPS

1. Lindsey Robertson, “The Do’s and Don’ts of Online Publicity, For Some Reason,” last modified January 12, 2010, http://lindsayrobertson.tumblr.com/post/330892541/the-dos-and-donts-of-online-publicity-for-some.

2. “National Survey Finds Majority of Journalists Now Depend on Social Media for Story Research,” January 20, 2010, http://us.cision.com/news_room/press_releases/2010/2010-1-20_gwu_survey.asp.

3. Ibid.

4. NPR staff, “The Music Man Behind ‘Entourage’ Shares His Secret,” last modified November 20, 2011, http://www.npr.org/2011/11/20/142558220/the-music-man-behind-entourage-shares-his-secret.

5. Tina Dupoy, “Tucker Max: America’s Douche,” last modified September 24, 2009, http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/tucker-max-americas-douche_b9479; Dakota Smith, “LA Not Particularly Welcoming to Tucker Max,” last modified September 24, 2009, http://la.curbed.com/archives/2009/09/la_not_particularly_welcoming_to_tucker_max.php.

6. Mackenzie Schmidt, “16 Angry Women Attempt to Protest the World’s Biggest Douche. Or, The Anti–Tucker Max Story, ‘I Hope They Serve Subpoenas in Hell,’” last modified October 1, 2009, http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2009/10/16_angry_women.php.

7. Dan Shanoff, “Brett Favre on ‘Dancing With the Stars?’ No. Not Even a Rumor,” last modified February 11, 2011, http://www.quickish.com/articles/brett-favre-on-dancing-with-the-stars-no-not-even-a-rumor; Barry Petchesky, “From Bleacher Report to ProFootballTalk: A Brett Favre Non-Rumor Goes National,” last modified February 11, 2011, http://deadspin.com/5757958/from-bleacher-report-to-profootballtalk-a-brett-favre-non+rumor-goes-national.

8. Steve Myers, “Florida Quran Burning, Afghanistan Violence Raise Questions About the Power of Media Blackouts,” last modified April 7, 2011, http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/making-sense-of-news/126878/florida-quran-burning-afghanistan-violence-raise-questions-about-the-power-of-media-blackouts; Jeff Bercovici, “When Journalism 2.0 Kills,” last modified April 7, 2011, http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2011/04/07/when-journalism-2-0-kills.

III: THE BLOG CON: HOW PUBLISHERS MAKE MONEY ONLINE

1. TMZ Staff, “TMZ Falls For JFK Photo Hoax,” last modified December 28, 2009, http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/tmz-falls-jfk-photo-hoax.

2. Forest Kamer, “Gawker’s March Editorial Review Memo: Essentially ‘Stop Writing Shitty Headlines.’ Also ‘MOAR SEX CRIMES PLZKTHX,’” last modified April 7, 2010, http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/04/gawkers_march_e.php.

IV: TACTIC #1: BLOGGERS ARE POOR; HELP PAY THEIR BILLS

1. Ben Parr, “What Do the Big Tech Blogs Such as Techcrunch or Mashable Look for When They Hire Writers?” last modified December 28, 2010, http://www.quora.com/What-do-the-big-tech-blogs-such-as-TechCrunch-or-Mashable-look-for-when-they-hire-writers.

2. Darren Rowse, “Weblogs Inc. Pays $4 per Post to Bloggers,” last modified August 27, 2005, http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/08/27/weblogs-inc-pays-4-per-post-to-bloggers.

3. David Kaplan, “Updated: Seeking Alpha On Track to Pay Its Bloggers $1.2 Million This Year,” last modified July 5, 2011, http://paidcontent.org/article/419-seeking-alpha-on-track-to-pay-its-bloggers-1.2-million-this-year; Joe Pompeo, “The Awl to Start Paying its Writers in January,” last modified December 14, 2010, http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/awl-start-paying-writers-january-20101214-111403-891.html.

4. Henry Blodget, “More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About the Economics of the Online News Business—A TWEETIFESTO,” last modified March 27, 2010, http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-more-than-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-economics-of-the-online-news-business-a-tweetifesto-2010-3.

5. Jenni Maier, “Tucker Max Proves You Can Pay Celebrities to Tweet Whatever You Want,” last modified February 9, 2012, http://crushable.com/entertainment/tucker-max-pay-celebrities-to-tweet-213.

6. Nate Silver, “The Economics of Blogging and the Huffington Post,” last modified February 12, 2011, http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/the-economics-of-blogging-and-the-huffington-post.

7. Victoria Barret, “Is Pure Journalism Unaffordable?” last modified February 17, 2011, http://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriabarret/2011/02/17/is-pure-journalism-unaffordable; Blodget, “More Than You Ever Wanted To Know.”

V: TACTIC #2: TELL THEM WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR

1. “A Study of the News Ecosystem of One American City,” last modified January 11, 2010, http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/how_news_happens.

2. Taylor Buley, “Tech’s Would-Be Takeover Con Artist,” last modified October 27, 2010, http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/27/fraud-stockbrocker-google-technology-Internet-takeover.html.

3. Robert Scoble, last modified July 28, 2010, https://profiles.google.com/111091089527727420853/buzz/EsMhJvooEWv.

VI: TACTIC #3: GIVE THEM WHAT SPREADS, NOT WHAT’S GOOD

1. Nicole Hardesty, “Haunting Images of Detroit’s Decline (PHOTOS),” last modified March 23, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/23/detroit-decline_n_813696.html; Stephen McGee, “Detroit’s Iconic Ruins,” http://www.nytimes.com/slide show/2010/03/06/us/0306_STATION_7.html; Andrew Moore, “Slide Show: Detroit, City of Ruins,” last modified April 8, 2010, http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2010/apr/08/slide-show-detroit-city-of-ruins; The Observer, “Detroit in ruins,” last modified January 1, 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2011/jan/02/photography-detroit#; Bruce Gilden, “Detroit: The Troubled City,” last modified May 6, 2009, http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/05/detroit_the_troubled_city.html.

2. Noreen Malone, “The Case Against Economic Disaster Porn,” last modified January 22, 2011, http://www.tnr.com/article/metro-policy/81954/Detroit-economic-disaster-porn.

3. Adrianne Jeffries, “Interview With Jonah Peretti, on BuzzFeed’s Move Into News,” last modified January 18, 2012, http://www.betabeat.com/2012/01/18/interview-with-jonah-peretti-on-buzzfeeds-move-into-news.

4. Jonah Berger and Katherine L. Milkman, “What Makes Content Viral?” 2011, Wharton School.

5. Annie Lang, “Negative Video as Structure: Emotion, Attention, Capacity and Memory,” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts (Fall 1996): 460.

VII: TACTIC #4: HELP THEM TRICK THEIR READERS

1. Venkatesh Rao, “The Greasy, Fix-It ‘Web of Intent’ Vision,” last modified August 17, 2010, http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/08/17/the-greasy-fix-it-web-of-intent-vision/.

VIII: TACTIC #5: SELL THEM SOMETHING THEY CAN SELL (EXPLOIT THE ONE-OFF PROBLEM)

1. Jacqui Cheng, “Why Keeping Up with RSS Is Poisonous to Productivity, Sanity,” http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2011/09/why-keeping-up-with-rss-is-poisonous-to-productivity-sanity.ars.

IX: TACTIC #6: MAKE IT ALL ABOUT THE HEADLINE

1. Kenneth Whyte, The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst. Berkeley, Cal.: Counterpoint, 2009.

2. Upton Sinclair, The Brass Check: A Study of American Journalism. Champaign, Il.: University of Illinois Press, 1919.

3. Jenna Sauers, “American Apparel’s Rejected Halloween Costume Ideas,” last modified October 18, 2010, http://Jezebel.com/5666842/exclusive-american-apparels-rejected-halloween-costume-idea.

4. Eric Schmidt, “How Google Can Help Newspapers,” Wall Street Journal, December 1, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107104574569570797550520.html.

5. Carr, “Taylor Momsen,” New York Times.

6. E. B. Boyd, “Brains and Bots Deep Inside Yahoo’s CORE Grab a Billion Clicks,” Fast Company, August 1, 2011, http://www.fastcompany.com/1770673/how-yahoo-got-to-a-billion-clicks.

X: TACTIC #7: KILL ’EM WITH PAGEVIEW KINDNESS

1. http://www.businessinsider.com/the-aol-way#-17.

2. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/susanorlean/2.html.

3. Brandon Mendelson, “Mashable Continues to Cash In on Death,” last modified September 6, 2011, http://ph.news.yahoo.com/mashable-continues-cash-death-173201323.html.

4. Bryan C. Warnock, “Re: RFCs: Two Proposals for Change,” last modified August 7, 2000, http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.bootstrap/2000/08/msg1127.html.

5. Nate Silver, “The Economics of Blogging and the Huffington Post,” last modified February 12, 2011, http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/the-economics-of-blogging-and-the-huffington-post.

XI: TACTIC #8: USE THE TECHNOLOGY AGAINST ITSELF

1. Justin Hall, last modified January 10, 1996, http://links.net/daze/96/01/10.

2. “The Gawker Job Interview,” last modified January 12, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/fashion/13gweb.html.

3. S. Kim, “Content Analysis of Cancer Blog Posts,” Journal of the Medical Library Association (October 2009) 97: 260–66.

4. Jakob Nielsen, “Long vs. Short Articles as Content Strategy,” last modified November 12, 2007, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/content-strategy.html.

5. Jack Fuller, “Public Inauthenticity: a Crisis of Falling Expectations,” May 12, 1999, http://newsombudsmen.org/fuller.html.

XII: TACTIC #9: JUST MAKE STUFF UP (EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING IT)

1. “Seeing Non-existent Things,” Washington Post, June 18, 1899, accessed July 30, 2011, ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

2. Meranda Watling, “Where to Find Original, Local Story Ideas Online,” last modified May 31, 2011, http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/where-to-find-original-local-story-ideas-online_b4352.

3. MG Siegler, “Content Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Drink,” February 12, 2012, http://parislemon.com/post/17527312140/content-everywhere-but-not-a-drop-to-drink.

4. Maysa Rawi, “Has American Apparel Gone Too Far with ‘Creepy’ Controversial New Campaign?” last modified January 11, 2011, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fe-mail/article-1346138/Has-American-Apparel-gone-far-creepy-controversial-new-campaign.html.

5. Nate Freeman, “Gawker Editor Remy Stern Talks Approach to O’Donnell Story,” last modified October 28, 2010, http://www.observer.com/2010/media/gawker-editor-remy-stern-approach-odonnell-story?utm_medium=partial-text&utm_campaign=media.

XIII: IRIN CARMON, THE DAILY SHOW, AND ME: THE PERFECT STORM OF HOW TOXIC BLOGGING CAN BE

1. Irin Carmon, “The Daily Show’s Woman Problem,” last modified June 23, 2010, http://Jezebel.com/5570545.

2. Jennifer Mascia, “A Web Site That’s Not Afraid to Pick a Fight,” New York Times, July 11, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/business/media/12Jezebel.html.

3. “Women of The Daily Show Speak,” http://www.thedailyshow.com/message.

4. Dave Itzkoff, “‘The Daily Show’ Women Say the Staff Isn’t Sexist,” New York Times, July 6, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/arts/television/07daily.html.

5. Irin Carmon, “5 Unconvincing Excuses For Daily Show Sexism,” last modified June 24, 2010, http://Jezebel.com/5571826/5-unconvincing-excuses-for-daily-show-sexism.

6. Irin Carmon, “Female Employees of the Daily Show Speak Out,” http://Jezebel.com/5580512/female-employees-of-the-daily-show-speak-out.

7. Emily Gould, “Outrage World,” last modified July 6, 2010, http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2010/07/outrage_world.html.

8. Irin Carmon, “Judd Apatow Defends His Record On Female Characters,” last modified November 10, 2010, http://Jezebel.com/5686517/judd-apatow-defends-his-record-on-female-characters.

XV: CUTE BUT EVIL: ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT TACTICS THAT DRUG YOU AND ME

1. Peter Kafka, “YouTube Steps Closer to Your TV With ‘Leanback,’” last modified July 7, 2010, http://allthingsd.com/20100707/youtube-steps-closer-to-your-tv-with-leanback.

2. Tamar Lewin, “If Your Kids Are Awake, They’re Probably Online,” New York Times, January 20, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/education/20wired.html; “Social Media Report: Q3 2011,” http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/social.

3. Ricky Link, “Demand Meda—Breaking the Bank,” access date January 17, 2012, http://www.onlinemba.com/demand-media-breaking-the-bank.

4. Sean Blanda, “Back to the Drawing Board,” last modified March 10, 2010, http://emediavitals.com/blog/16/back-drawing-board.

5. Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert Merton, “Mass Communication, Popular Taste, and Organized Social Action,” The Communication of Ideas (1948).

XVI: THE LINK ECONOMY: THE LEVERAGED ILLUSION OF SOURCING

1. Mark Schneider, “Delegating Trust: An Argument for an ‘Ingredients Label’ for News Products,” October 2005, http://journalismethics.info/online_journalism_ethics/index.htm.

2. Adrianne Pasquarelli, “American Apparel Likely to Shed Some NY Stores,” last modified August 18, 2010, http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100818/REAL_ESTATE/100819812; Mercedes Cardona, “10 Big Retailers Closing Stores,” last modified August 20, 2010, http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/08/20/10-big-retailers-closing-stores.

3. Shawn Pogatchnik, “Student Hoaxes World’s Media on Wikipedia,” last updated May 12, 2009, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30699302/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/student-hoaxes-worlds-media-wikipedia/#.Tz7D1iOHeYc.

XVII: EXTORTION VIA THE WEB: FACING THE ONLINE SHAKEDOWN

1. Antonio Regalado, “Guerrilla Webfare,” Technology Review (2010), http://www.technologyreview.com/business/26281.

2. Michael Arrington, “Why We Often Blindside Companies,” last modified June 20, 2011, http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/20/why-we-often-blindside-companies.

3. Tom Mulraney, “An Open Letter to the Luxury Watch Industry—Help Us, Help You,” last modified November 13, 2010, http://thewatchlounge.com/an-open-letter-to-the-luxury-watch-industry-%E2%80%93-help-us-help-you.

XVIII: THE ITERATIVE HUSTLE: ONLINE JOURNALISM’S BOGUS PHILOSOPHY

1. Erik Wemple, “Joe Paterno Dies On Sunday, Not Saturday,” last modified January 22, 2012, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/post/joe-paterno-dies-on-sunday-not-saturday/2012/01/22/gIQATznwIQ_blog.html.

2. David Sternman, “American Apparel: In Deep Trouble,” last modified January 12, 2012, http://seekingalpha.com/article/319135-american-apparel-in-deep-trouble; John Biggs, “Paypal Shreds Ostensibly Rare Violin Because It Cares,” last modified January 4, 2012, http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/04/paypal-shreds-ostensibly-rare-violin-because-it-cares.

3. Joe Weisenthal, “NYT’s Big David Paterson Bombshell Will Break Monday, Governor’s Resignation to Follow,” last modified February 7, 2010, http://www.businessinsider.com/source-nyts-david-paterson-bombshell-to-break-tomorrow-governors-resignation-to-follow-2010-2; Joe Weisenthal, “SOURCE: The NYT’s Big David Paterson Bombshell Will Break Soon, Governor’s Office Denies Resignation In Works*,” last modified February 7, 2010, http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-02-07/news/29968588_1_governor-paterson-david-paterson-resignation.

4. Henry Blodget, “Apple Denies Steve Jobs Heart Attack Report: ‘It Is Not True,’” last modified October 3, 2008, http://www.businessinsider.com/2008/10/apple-s-steve-jobs-rushed-to-er-after-heart-attack-says-cnn-citizen-journalist.

5. Josh Duboff, “Paterson Reportedly to Resign Monday Following Times Story,” last modified February 7, 2010, http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/02/paterson_reportedly_to_resign.html.

XIX: THE MYTH OF CORRECTIONS

1. Howard Kurtz, “Clinton Aide Settles Libel Suit Against Matt Drudge—at a Cost,” Washington Post, May 2, 2001, http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A30046-2001May1.

2. Shirley Brady, “American Apparel Taps Drew Carey for Image Turnaround,” last modified September 6, 2010, http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2010/09/06/American-Apparel-Drew-Carey.aspx.

3. Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler, “When Corrections Fail: The Persistence of Political Misperceptions.” Political Behavior 32: 303–30.

4. Jeffrey A. Gibbons, Angela F. Lukowski, and W. Richard Walker, “Exposure Increases the Believability of Unbelievable News Headlines via Elaborate Cognitive Processing.” Media Psychology 7 (2005): 273–300.

XX: CHEERING ON OUR OWN DECEPTION

1. Staci Kramer, July 7, 2010, https://twitter.com/#!/sdkstl/statuses/17994359302.

XXI: THE DARK SIDE OF SNARK: WHEN INTERNET HUMOR ATTACKS

1. Philip Petrov, “Why Are College Students—and Bwog—So Clever?” last modified March 8, 2009, http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2009/03/08/why-are-college-students-and-bwog-so-clever.

XXII: THE 21ST-CENTURY DEGRADATION CEREMONY: BLOGS AS MACHINES OF HATRED AND PUNISHMENT

1. Dov Charney, “Statement from Dov Charney, Founder and CEO of American Apparel,” The Guardian, May 18, 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/may/18/american-apparel-woody-allen.

XXIII: WELCOME TO UNREALITY

1. Henry Blodget, “DEAR PR FOLKS: Please Stop Sending Us ‘Experts’ and ‘Story Ideas’—Here’s What to Send Us Instead,” last modified April 15, 2011, http://www.businessinsider.com/pr-advice-2011-4.

2. “Conservative Media Silent on Prior Publication of Leaks Favorable to White House,” last modified June 30, 2006, http://mediamatters.org/research/200607010007.

CONCLUSION: SO…WHERE TO FROM HERE?

1. John Hudson, “Nick Denton: What I Read,” last modified February 6, 2011, http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2011/02/nick-denton-what-i-read/17870.

2. Tyler Cowen, “What’s the new incentive of The New York Times?” last modified March 18, 2011, http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/03/whats-the-new-incentive-of-the-new-york-times.html.