Pay $$, Become a ‘Columnist’

Letter to Romanesko: Want to be a real sportswriter? Got a photo? Got a hundred bucks? Okay, you’re in. Foxsports.com, which recently canned its entire writing staff, isauctioning off, on Ebay, the chance to be Foxsports.com’s NASCAR columnist and actually cover a NASCAR race.

When we sell space in our newspaper, we call it “advertising.”

Comments

Posted by: Alice Marshall on July 16, 2003 11:34 AM

If this works, how long will it be before Murdoch dismisses the entire Fox News Channel staff and replaces them with eBay buyers?

Posted by: Brian on July 16, 2003 12:22 PM

Would that mean, extrapolating Ms.Marshall’s comment, only those with money will be able to get their views and opinions in front of the public?

Though it would be nice to think that for Fox “News” it could only be an improvement.

Posted by: Adrian on July 16, 2003 01:28 PM

Well, this is an interesting extension of “reality TV” — reality journalism. Why watch professional entertainers when real humans are more entertaining? Why read news produced by real journalists when real humans are…more entertaining?

I think this Fox News eBay thing is partly a result of the blog phenomenon. It’s obvious there’s a public appetite for content produced by “real” people; this is only a natural extension.

Posted by: Alice Marshall on July 17, 2003 07:52 AM

Just to clarify, I think this is a ghastly development. But a logical extension of Murdoch’s approach to mass media, which has always been to squeeze the last dime out of it and total contempt for viewers.

Posted by: bang on March 2, 2004 01:21 PM

Pay $$, Become a ‘Columnist’

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