Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator (48 page)

INDEX

ACORN faux investigation, 136–37

Adams, Scott, 198–200, 204

addiction, of users, exploitation of, 140–44

advertisements, 32–33

provocative, success of, 65–66

revenue formula for, 32

revenues from, 32–33

viral video ads, 191

Afghanistan, Koran burning riots, 28–29

Agence France-Presse, 28–29

algorithms, to create content, 142–43

Allen, Woody, 210–12

Alterman, Eric, 106

American Apparel

BNET
fiction about, 116–19

fake headlines, power of, 91

hazardous nail polish coverage, 125–32

nude ads, 65–66

NY store closings rumor, 151

Price is Right
prize episode, 179–80

Woody Allen lawsuit, 210–12

Angelgate, 38

anger, and virality, 63–68

angle on story, 114–19

Answerbag.com
, 142

AOL (America Online)

AOL Way memo, 97

blogs acquired by, 36–37

on pageview-driven content, 97

Apatow, Judd, 131–32

Arbuckle, Fatty, 78

Armstrong, Lance, 142

Arrington, Michael

blackmail tactics by, 159–60

conflicts of interest, profiting from, 38

on iterative journalism, 167, 175

See also
TechCrunch

Ars Technica
, 37, 84

Assange, Julian, 209–11

Associated Content, 44

Associated Press (AP), 12

TheAtlantic.com
, 88

Autoblog
, 42

Awl, The
, 43, 46

Axon, Samuel, 103

B5Media, 36

Bagdikian, Ben, 82

Ballas, Lambros, 52

Bardella, Kurt, 17

Becker, Gary, 105

Bennett, James Gordon, Sr., 78, 80

Biggs, John, 115

Bin Laden, Osama, 171–72, 192

blackmail, by blogs, 158–64

Blakeley, Richard, 208

Bleacher Report
, 27

Blodget, Henry, 43, 145, 181, 219–20.
See also
Business Insider

Blogger Bootcamp
, 108, 115

bloggers

compensation methods for, 42–44

conflicts of interest, profiting from, 37–38, 47

hiring criteria, 42

lucrative jobs, moving to, 45–46

manipulating.
see
manipulating bloggers

Bloglines, 83

blogs, 32–35

content/stories of.
see
stories/information

defined, 13

earnings/profits.
see
revenues

future view, 230–36

link economy, 150–56

and media manipulation.
see
manipulating bloggers

metrics, use of, 96–104

name-building by, 35–36

negative impact of.
see
blog toxicity

in newsmaking chain, 18–29

tricking the reader, 70–74

virality, creating, 63–68

as Yellow Press, 79–80, 82–85

blog toxicity

ACORN faux investigation, 136–37

Adams (Scott), attacks on, 198–200

algorithmically created media, 142–43

American Apparel hazardous nail polish story, 125–32

Assange coverage, 209–11

blog-sponsored conferences, 191–92

Blumenthal (Sidney) spouse abuse rumor, 179

corrections, nonexistence of, 129–30, 178–86

Daily Show, The,
sexism story, 128–31

degradation, 208–13

Detroit in ruins slideshow, 61–63

fear/blackmail and blogs, 158–64

fund-raising example, 18–19

gossip piece, starting, 26–27

headlines, misleading/fake, 89, 91, 92, 93, 129

items to watch for, 224–25

iterative journalism, 166–86

Koran burning riots, 28–29, 28n

and link economy, 150–56

Paterson (David) resignation rumor, 168–70

Pawlenty campaign, 12, 14–16

reader addiction, exploitation of, 140–41

Santelli’s rant, posting, 66–68

self-interested coverage, 190–94

Sherrod (Shirley) resignation, 134–38

snark, 197–205

Toyota fiasco, 189

and trading up the chain, 28–29, 146–49

unreality, perpetuation of, 216–21

user addiction, 140–44

Wikipedia, false information, 54–55, 152

Bloody Disgusting
, 37

Blumenthal, Sidney, 179

BNET
, 116–17

BoingBoing
, 19

Boorstin, Daniel, 187, 217, 219

Brand Channel
, 180

bribes, indirect, to bloggers, 42–47

Brietbart, Andrew, 134–38

Brin, Sergey, 153

Business Insider
, 13

blogger compensation method, 43

factual errors, defending, 181, 219

misinformation, encouraging, 219–20

Paterson (David) resignation rumor, 168–70

perks accepted by, 45

BusinessWeek
, 189, 233

BuzzFeed
, 13, 62, 102, 190

Cain, Herman, 16

Calacanis, Jason, 35

Campbell, W. J., 79

Card, Orson Scott, 101

Carey, Drew, 180

Carmon, Irin, 123, 125–32

Carr, David, 87

Chamfort, Nicolas, 98

Chandler, Raymond, 75, 82

Charney, Dov, 117, 169, 201, 209, 210–11.
See also
American Apparel

Cheezburger Network, 142

Cheney, Dick, 221

Chicago Tribune
, 111

Chomsky, Noam, 82

Christian Science Monitor
, 96

Churchill, Winston, 6

Cicero, 165

Cityfile, 38

Classifieds section, 77n

Clinton, Bill, 163, 179

CNBC, Santelli’s rant, posting, 66–68

Coen, Jessica, 165

Comments section

silence, problem of, 101–3, 144

traffic/pageviews as goal, 72–74

compensation methods, for bloggers, 42–44

conferences, blog-sponsored, 191–92

conflicts of interest, 37–38, 47

Consumerist
, 162

content production.
See
stories/information

controversy, and virality, 65–66

Cook, John, 46

Cooley, Charles Horton, 117–18

Cooper, James Fennimore, 140

Cooperman, Kahane, 129

corrections, nonexistence of, 129–30, 178–86

Couric, Katie, 23

Cowen, Tyler, 57–58, 233

Cox, Ana Marie, 46

Cracked.com
, 142

Craggs, Tommy, 166

Crain’s New York
, 151

Cruise, Tom, 34

CrunchFund, 38

Crushable.com
, 36

Curbed Los Angeles
, 23–24

Curtis, Drew, 21–22, 113

Cut, The
, 151