Silly New York Times, Part Two
Sometimes the un-hipness of the
Times really is startling. Take, for instance,
today's story on how upcoming magazine
Radar is launching a website before it publishes its first physical issue. The Times treats this like a revelation. "The strategy is highly unusual," says Katharine Q. Seelye.
I suppose...but isn't there a "so what" factor here? Most magazines have websites to go along with the paper product. And most readers ignore them, except when they're looking up an old article, which generally can't be found anyway.
Ah, but Radar's website will be different, Seelye explains. "The Web site will not reproduce the magazine's contents but instead offer fresh takes daily on the news and gossip and will showcase a series of features.
"These will include a stock ticker with the relative popularity of various celebrities ("Trump up by three over Tina Brown!" Mr. Roshan intoned). There will be "after-death" interviews when the departed are back in the news (say, with Howard Hughes when "The Aviator" came out).
"And fans of the interactive will have a chance to post pictures of themselves on the Web site for 15 minutes along with a sentence or two about why they should be famous. All the while, a clock will tick down their 15 minutes."
Let us translate this: Radar's website will not feature any actual content that Radar has to spend money on.
As for the aforementioned website features...well, since I am a fan of new magazines and people who start them, perhaps it is best to say nothing at all.
Oh, all right, one thing: Donald Trump over Tina Brown by 3? Is there anyone who could possibly give a damn?
