The death of Jezebel is the end of an era of feminism. We’re worse off without it

Websites like Jezebel revived feminism, showing the internet might have a re-radicalizing effect. Who will carry the torch?Jezebel is dead. After 16 years, the women’s news site, launched by Gawker Media under the editor Anna Holmes in 2007, shuttered for good this past week. Its most recent parent company, G/O Media, announced that the site was not sufficiently profitable and that it had not been able to find a buyer. The site’s closure will mean that its robust abortion coverage will cease; so will its investigations into sexual abuse and its feminist critiques of culture and politics. The entire Jezebel staff lost their jobs.There is one way to see the closing of Jezebel as a symptom of an ailing media business. Journalism layoffs have become something of a grim ritual, with dozens of talented, hardworking and well-sourced writers taking to social media to announce their need for new work whenever the industry turns the corner on a bad quarter. Media companies stumbled at the turn of the last century, when the advent of the internet made print advertising dramatically less profitable; they never recovered. Digital media arose, but has not been able to eke out sufficient profit growth as social media evolves and fractures, and traffic becomes harder to juice. Jezebel’s slow death over the past few years was exacerbated by the injection of private equity into the media industry, a medicine that has turned out to be worse than the disease. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-11-11 12:00:36 UTC ]
News tagged with: #past week #slow death #gawker media #media industry #sexual abuse #bad quarter #private equity #digital media

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Shelly Bond Leads DC’s Vertigo Line Into a New Era

For the past year, Shelly Bond has been working almost nonstop as the newly appointed executive editor of Vertigo, DC Entertainment’s nonsuperhero comics and graphic novel imprint. Bond, who began her Vertigo tenure in 1995 as assistant editor, took over the direction of the imprint following... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Campaign to end gender-specific children's books gathers high-profile publishing support

Waterstones, children's laureate Malorie Blackman, poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Phillip Pullman among supportersA national campaign to stop children's books being labelled as "for boys" or "for girls" has won the support of Britain's largest specialist bookseller Waterstones, as well as... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Billy Coffey: Writing a Different Ending

Still captivated by the distinctive small Virginia town where he grew up, Billy Coffey returns to its proxy in his latest novel, which explores what happens when 20 years’ worth of guilt about a young man’s untimely death overtakes three high school classmates. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Parents push to end gender division of boys' and girls' books

Let Books Be Books campaign wins instant repsonse from publisher Usborne, in time for International Women's DayA campaign to break down gender divides in children's publishing has met with instant success, after one of the publishers under fire announced they will stop producing titles labelled... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Best Cold-Weather Comics for Winter's End

With Spring just around the corner, here are some of the best cold-weather comics to see out the end of the season. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Feminism, Meet Fiction

Is there lingering sexism in the world of books and art galleries? Many female novelists have ardently argued that their novels haven’t received the laurels and attention of Great Male Novelists, but they have not been able to deftly, subtly attack the larger problem the way Siri Hustvedt does... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2014-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Award-Winning Authors Struggling to Make Ends Meet

Writing for The Guardian, Robert McCrum observes that “the credit crunch and the internet are making writing as a career harder than it has been for a generation.” Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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ProPublica's Richard Tofel: 'Our mission is to end abuses of power'

The president of the non-profit investigative journalism website on measuring impact, team work – and Edward SnowdenRichard Tofel has had a dream. It came upon him the night before we meet and he is still a little rattled by it. In it, he found himself performing his old role at Dow Jones, where... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Does digital publishing mean the death of the author? | Richard Lea

We used to know what it took to be a writer – you had to publish a book. But electronic publishing is piling pressure on myths of the author's lifeWhat's the difference between making money out of books and writing books that people want to buy? Turns out it's about 40% – if, that is, you... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Flynn rewrites Gone Girl ending for film

Writer Gillian Flynn has acknowledged rewriting the ending to her novel Gone Girl (Weidenfeld... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ferguson ends 2013 in pole position

Sir Alex Ferguson's My Autobiography (Hodder & Stoughton) has retained pole position in... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Reuters dodges questions about death of 17-year-old photographer in Syria

Molhem Barakat, a freelance photographer reputed to be just 17 years old, has been killed while covering the conflict in Syria.He died on Friday (20 December) in Aleppo during a battle at Kindi hospital between rebel groups and forces loyal to the president, Bashar al-Assad.Dozens of Barakat's... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Death of Addison Cresswell

Influential agent Addison Cresswell has died suddenly at the age of 53.  Cresswell... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News UK sings its way into a new era, and a new home, at carol concert

I wrote the other week about Rupert Murdoch's newspaper outfit, News UK, being reborn by putting a digital smile on Wapping's face.Now, with the company's move to London Bridge in mind, the publisher has put a smile on the face of Southwark Cathedral by donating £1,000 to its All Hallows... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Changing Hands & St. Mark’s Fundraisers End Soon

The clock is ticking for two bookstores in the midst of transition: one about to open a second branch, the other to move. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book House Ends Kickstarter Campaign Above Goal

The suburban St. Louis bookstore ended its four-week Kickstarter campaign on Sunday, more than $2,000 above its goal. The funds raised are being used to build out a section of its new home so that the store can open for business on weekends before Christmas. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cool Tools: A Whole Earth Catalog For The Post-Internet Era

If you're ready to tear yourself away from a screen for awhile, Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools is your must-read book and DIY muse. It's also the perfect gift for the geek in your life.With the advent of the Internet, the Whole Earth Catalog's curation of all the weird and wonderful things necessary... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2013-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How to tweet without ending up in prison

An ill-judged tweet can land you in a whole lot of legal bother, as Peaches Geldof and Sally Bercow know only too well. So the attorney general's new guidelines are essential readingIt doesn't seem real to think that you could take your phone out of your pocket right now, type a few words on it,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon’s Australian Kindle store: an unhappy ending for the book industry?

Amazon has been prising open the wallets of Australian consumers for years – but what will its local push on Kindle mean for readers, writers and publishers?Ben Eltham Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is Government the Only Force Able to End Amazon Dominance?

Speakers at last week's UK Futurebook conference offered ideas for combating Amazon dominance, including advocating government intervention and ending DRM. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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