Comments on: A Quick Thought About The Web

By: morethandork

morethandork — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 10:20:01 +0000

Isn’t one of the reasons why “no comment” became the standard that the facts they were hiding were bad things?

Taking your example, if the incredibly smart lawyer is trying to hide something dishonest or reprehensible, and it’s something he wants to continue to be able to do, then being upfront about the facts doesn’t benefit him. Thus, “no comment.”

And isn’t that why “no comment” came in vogue?

If rumors were flying for years about Madoff being a criminal, Madoff couldn’t have quelled those rumors with the facts.

Am I way off base?

By: Ryan Holiday

Ryan Holiday — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:06:45 +0000

If you thought I was arguing then you missed the point. But please, let me know what else I can do you to help you.

By: W

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:41:26 +0000

So, what was this PR shitstorm about? Divulging this would certainly help your argument.

By: jonathan

jonathan — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:28:47 +0000

You’d like Michael Sitrick’s work

By: Ryan Holiday

Ryan Holiday — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:56:46 +0000

Of course. And they also pick up things that have been bouncing around online days or even weeks after the fact.

In my experience, the stories we read in print or from big organizations tend to reflect whatever the general tone or feeling about that issue is online. So if the buzz about a movie is bad the mainstream reporting will be bad. If the sentiment on blogs is that someone is a sleazebag, then that’s the angle journalists will take.

We’re in a state of flux, but more or less, the web is where the ‘decisions’ are made which makes it the only model that matters.

By: G_Man

G_Man — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 09:36:40 +0000

Doesn’t the AP still break lots of news? They aren’t considered bloggers.

By: Ryan Holiday

Ryan Holiday — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 09:20:01 +0000

How about waking up every morning? It’s not a statement, it’s just the way things happen to be.

By: Tony

Tony — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:38:32 +0000

My speculation is because now it’s not just journalists and reporters covering stories, with the internet more “normal” people can cover stories.

By: m

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:51:39 +0000

Blogs now break most news? Could you please cite your sources for this statement ?

By: Ryan Holiday

Ryan Holiday — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:12:44 +0000

This is a little bit different than just being open. You have to understand that underlying incentives that “reporters” (in this case, blogs now break most news) face have changed.

Blogs don’t need your side of the story to write about a topic. Newspapers, for the most part, do.

Make sense?