July 31, 2009

Let's play telephone

Remember the game of telephone? Someone would start a phrase, whisper it to the person next to them until it completed the chain. Would the end product be the same or similar to the original, probably not.

Well, gossip is very much like the old game of telephone. One site, tabloid or blog will pick up an item and run with it, then someone else will find it and add something whether its true or not(as long as it sounds good) until the final link in the chain may bear little or no resemblance to the original item; what began as a simple bike ride around New York City becomes a secret date between two people to discuss a trip to Europe. And the rumors fly sometimes leading to a disastrous end.

Up until Tuesday there really wasn't any place to go to separate fact from fiction when it came to celebrity gossip, but on July 28, 2009 Gossip Cop made its debut. A site, co founded by Dan Abrams, is here to set the record straight on some of the celebrity gossip out there. It will, with the help of celebrities themselves, their staff and a crew of "gossip cops", give the fans the truth behind the rumors and gossip.

But don't think Gossip Cop is just another entry into the world of gossip because it is so much more. After checking out the latest rumor mill debunking take a look at the sidebar. There you'll find sections entitled:

Hollygood, which has photos from various celebrity charity events. And Hollywood Heart which is a list of charities championed by celebrities such as, Ashton Kutcher(Malaria No More) and Capuchin Food Pantries championed by Al Pacino.

Check out a couple of Dan Abrams' appearances to talk about this new site:
Today Show

Carlos Watson


So the next time you read some celebrity gossip that doesn't sound quite right check out Gossip Cop and you may find the truth.

July 6, 2009

Launched

In the early hours of July 6, 2009 the long awaited and much anticipated media site Mediaite came online.

Even before its launch people were talking about it. While some, like myself, took the wait and see attitude others were quick to criticize everything about it, without even having laid eyes on it. When Dan Abrams, CEO of Abrams Research and publisher of Mediate, mentioned the idea a few months back there were a lot of comments about the new site. Criticism ranged from the name and most recently to rules set up for people who would post content to the site, but this did not deter those at Mediaite and the site is up and I’ve had a heck of a time getting into it because everyone is either curious or interested, I hope it’s the latter.

Now for my two cents. I really haven’t had much time to give Mediaite the attention it deserves to give a full review and it will probably be awhile, but here are a few of my thoughts:

First, the name, Mediaite, yeah, well, it does sound a bit strange, but once you look at it you will find it really isn’t.

-ite is what in the world of grammer is known as a synonym and according to all the online dictionaries I checked it is defined as, a follower of, so that to me would make the name mean follower of media. Sorry if I'm wrong, but that's my take.

Secondly, Rules for content. Come on people there have to be rules or else there would be chaos and lawsuits. How would you feel if someone quoted from or used part of an article you’ve worked on without giving you credit, not too happy I’d expect. So why do some people have to cry foul when they are asked to cite sources and link back to them whenever possible? It’s not that hard.

As for the content of the site I did read two of the article published by Steve Krakauer regarding Sarah Palin’s announcement last week. And I do tend to agree with Steve’s assessment, especially when it comes to a certain network’s, as Steve put it ,

“the *gotcha* journalists at CNN were a little preoccupied”.

As for the rest of the site, its content and its focus I’ll review that at another time, when I have time.

So that’s it for me, if you want to get the full effect of this new site check it out at www.mediaite.com, but expect a wait as the site seems to be extremely busy at the moment.

PS I have not read any other reviews regarding this site so the review is based strictly on my own observations and views.