LA Times Wants to Charge For Linking To It.

This is an idea that new owner Sam Zell (not a newspaper man in any sense) expressed  when the reports first came out that he had won approval from the Chicago Trigune Company's board for his offer (despite a better offer according to some critics from the Eli Broad, and Ron Burkle led group) for the company. 

 He might as well have sat down at a piano* . The journalistic snickers were heard across the country.

Now Joel  Sattel described as a Tims Staff Writer (searches turn up other former or recent positions at the paper) writes a report about Matt Drudge and how he makes millions by linking to mostly mainstream news sources in "Hot links served up daily".  (Go to the Los Angeles Times and search this for yourself  since they don't like being linked to)  Zell's earlier arguments focused on Google "stealing links'.  But Drudge is disliked by at least half the blogger crowd so now he's "stealing links" too.

Apparently Drudge does not offer much of his own thoughts other than titling his links in a tabloid fashion to generate outrage. 

A previous analysis at Slate.com and the LA Times article does say he does receive some inside tips.   The Slate analysis found that historically 2/3rds of the original insider tips were false. I remember one of the few times I went there, the top flashing light was pronouncing proof that liberals control the news media.  A CNN news editor had sent a memo around the day before strongly advising all the show host to avoid interviewing a conservative book writer.  It turned out that the liberal editor had so much power that it was not until that afternoon that the first interview with said writer was produced by CNN.  Of course, the myth of liberal controlled media persists  because the neocons that control the news media want it to persist.

Other things we learn from the Times report on Drudge.  

Conservative bloggers have their own, very lucrative, advertising agency. (Add that to the back payment of useful but embarrassing bloggers by Republican candidates as shown by the John Thune campaign in 2004.  This from a CBS report in February 2005 that was also seemed to indicate that Karl Rove may have manipulated the bloggers through a well known figure who emerged into the spotlight just about that time. )

But I still think the claim that the Los Angeles Times wanting to charge (and you know they wouldn't stop at Google and The Drudge Report) for linking to it is the biggest story here.  

The only way seems to be by using a DMCA action as the record companies do.  $250K each time you forget to register and pay before you link? 

 The neocons that control mainstream have been trying to shut down bloggers and liberal forums for years. Now that forums are called blogs and there is already a clearly established pattern of giving government favor to right wing forums and blogs, we would have a situation where liberal free speech could be shut out, just like mainstream news had shut it out for the last couple of decades.

Mainstream news is dying because it turned a sickly yellow, not because of bloggers.  If they charge for links we will stop linking to them.  Then guess where they'll be.  It may be that few people go on to click the links, but fewer still will use a description of where to find a report in a newspaper.   In fact, that could be the end of their online presence entirely. 

*Remember the old ads "They laughed when I sat down at the piano"? (return to above ) 

BTW notice how I referenced articles without links.  That's how it could go down, driving much less traffic to the mainstream.

tags: mainstream news  los angeles times  

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