The news outlets are all referring to TMZ.com as the principal conduit for video of Richards' racist rant, and you may recall that TMZ also steadied Mel Gibson's sword for him when he performed his anti-Semitic swan dive onto it a while back.
"What is TMZ," you may be asking, "and where did it come from?"
According to a story in today's New York Times:
TMZ.com is a happy collaboration of Warner Brothers and AOL, a Web site with the kind of numbers (6.8 million unique visitors last month, according to comScore Media Metrix) that could give synergy a good name. The site is a gritty, some would say grimy, Web site that publishes celebrity news in real time. (The name stands for the Thirty Mile Zone that defines the site’s celebrity hunting ground in and around Los Angeles.)It's a big day for blog news, actually. Here's a roundup of some other interesting items ...
From CNet, a landmark decision protecting bloggers and other Web publishers.
In a victory for bloggers, newsgroup participants and other Web publishers, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday that individual Internet users cannot be held liable for republishing defamatory statements written by others.
While it is great to have some legal precedent on the books that protects bloggers, I have to wonder how great this is for human culture in general. Is it so bad to think twice about what you repeat on your blog? Defamation is bad, but spreading it isn't too attractive either. Have you ever blogged something you shouldn't have? What happened?
From the BBC, Egypt arrests another blogger critic:
Police in Cairo have detained a blogger whose posts have been critical of the Egyptian government.
Rami Siyam, who blogs under the name of Ayyoub, was detained along with three friends after leaving the house of a fellow blogger late at night.
This is like attacking hill of fire ants with a sword. Obviously, Egypt doesn't have the same belief in free speech that we have (or used to have) in the U.S. But by arresting this blogger, the issues the blogger was talking about are elevated, drawing more fire and more attention to the Egyptian government.
It happens all the time in the blogosphere: People retaliate against a critical blogger and the whole thing simultaneously snowballs and explodes. Have you ever made a big deal out of something on someone's blog, only to have it blow up in your face? What happened, and what did you learn?
Finally, I just like this story ... it turns out the blogger behind TvNewser is a 21-year-old college student. Brian Stelter's had a passion for TV news his entire life, and created a blog that tracks gossip, news and opinion within the field. It's grown in prominence to the point where TV execs not only visit his blog multiple time daily, but leak stories to him. An excerpt:
“I’ve heard people joke that when TVNewser is dormant, the kid had a final or a big family dinner that he couldn’t get out of,” said Brian Williams, the NBC news anchor and a TVNewser devotee. “People from entry level to high and mighty check in on it.”I find this fascinating and incredibly empowering. This kid's just blogging away about his arcane passion -- and he sure didn't start doing it because he thought it would make him cool. He's become a powerhouse completely by accident, sort of. I've long suspected that prominence is a byproduct of passion and hard work, and this story is living proof.
It is read religiously by network presidents, media executives, producers and publicists, not for any stinging commentary from Mr. Stelter, whose style is usually described as earnest, but because it provides aquick snapshot of the industry onany given day. Habitués include Mr. Williams and Jonathan Klein, the president of CNN’s domestic operations, who long ago offered up his cellphone number to Mr. Stelter.
The network publicists generally know his class schedule — afternoons on Tuesdays and Thursdays — and barrage him with material, which they often expect him to post within minutes. While recording a radio segment for one of his classes — Mass Communication 381 — he turned his cellphone off for 15 minutes, then turned it back on to find one nagging voice mail message from an ABC publicist and another from CNN.
Got any other blogosphere news? Any thoughts on the articles, or general criticisms? I'd tell you where to cram 'em, but you already know: in the comments section.
17 comments:
Well, he might lose the deposit money because I'm not going to watch Seinfeld anymore and neither are a few others I know. He can say he's sorry til Doomsday but his true racist feelings erupted. And I'm white.
Dianna
Hmm... Aside from losing my mind, wrestling a nasty sunburn and trying to see if my marginally psychotic ex-girlfriend wants to take care of a vacant house for a year or two, there's not much news in my world.
Oh yeah. I hit the halfway point in the book I'm trying to write. I'm not used to actually being able to devote entire days to writing, and with nothing to yank me away from the tempestuous maelstrom of creativity, it's pretty nasty, actually. Seriously, reality becomes a hacky-sack to be kicked around for inspiration.
Peace out gangsta,
Dan
http://journals.aol.com/dpoem/TheWisdomofaDistractedMind/
Michael has just spoken out like the rest of us should be doing. We support most of them and they are more racist than we are but it is ok for them to speak out about white people but it is not ok for white people to speak out against them. I am sick of it myself. Everytime a white person says something they are racist but every time a black person says something we are suppose to over look it and let it go. You go Michael for you are not alone out here. We are also getting tired of blacks and having our taxes raised every time we look up so that they can have more and still sit at home and multiply. Don't apologize Michael you just let everyone know how you feel for I will still keep on watching Seinfeld. Go Michael.
YOU KNOW WHAT I AM NOT RACIST, BUT BLACK PEOPLE CAN SAY WHITE BOY OR CRACKER OR WHAT EVER THEY WANT TO US AND WE CAN'T SAY ANYTHING BACK, NO THAT IS B.S. . SO I DON'T KNOW WHY MICHAEL APOLOGIZED ITS B.S. HE DIDN'T SAY FU OR ANYTHING SO I DON'T SEE WHAT THE PROBLEM IS. I AM ALSO TIRED OF HEARING BLACK PEOPLE CALL WHITE PEOPLE NAMES AND WE JUST SHRUGG IT OFF THAT IS A DOUBLE STANDERED. JEWISH PEOPLE WENT THROUGH A HOLOCAUST, BUT ALOT OF THEM DON'T STILL HAVE THAT HATRED SO WHAT IS THE DEAL.
Oy... Somehow, my problems just don't seem so large.
-Dan
http://journals.aol.com/dpoem/TheWisdomofaDistractedMind/
i think he went a little far out there , but and that is a big but, no one is saying anything about the men who went on nbc today and acted as if they did nothing wrong either. they were calling him f ***ing cracker . they were just as wrong.
so does that mean that because those men wernt famous, that they shouldnt be sorry too. people doing stand up make fun of all races, and no one is yelling at them. like i said he got mad and went a little far but no one yells at carlos mancia
for any of his remarks. he appoligized for his remarks , admitted that he went to far. so maybe WE should shut up about it and move on
Is it better to have been on a number one comedy Tv show and then it stops or to have never been on anything at all??
How Friggin' sad, to think Kramer was one of my funniest's favorites on Seinfeld, with the re-runs playing all day long, everyday !
Now he is apoligizing with a blank, hollow, sweaty, 1000 mile stare for an obvious career ending diatribe!
Wow, I truly hope he gets "MAJOR HELP" before it it too late!! And we are reading about him in the RIP section of the paper!
The guy that said,there are more whites on government assistance than blacks,is right.However he needs to explain the whole story.Whites make up @78% of the population compared to only @13% of Blacks.It would nearly be imposible for such a small percent of the total population (Blacks) to outnumber the larger percent (Whites) in that catagory.Now,you have the rest of the story.
THIS COUNTRY NEEDS TO QUIT PAMPERING BLACK PEOPLE....THEY ARE MORE RACIST THAN ANY OTHER RACE.........YET THEY GET AWAY WITH IT. QUIT USING THE "N" WORD AS A CRUTCH. GET OVER IT. THIS COUNTRY OWES YOU NO APOLOGY. I WILL WATCH SEINFIELD, BUT MAYBE NOT COSBY.
i'm a sista who still loves her 'kramer'. what he did was bad but it's just something the media wants to blow up. yes,as blacks we do glorify the N word. it's hypocritical. we will stay divided as the 'man' wants us to until we get some sense.
the real victim is stand up comedy. it took a lousy amateur to set it back 50 years.
www.TemptationsEnt.com 15 free video minutes
I don't know. I think everyone has the right to live in this country, and those round-heads demanding that blacks "go home," should learn to understand that this IS their home. To say that it isn't is also to say that the White Man doesn't belong here and should go back to Europe. The fact is, this country welcomes all. If you believe that the color of your skin gives you license to dictate who can and can not live here, perhaps you should all re-read the Constitution or back your bags and take your narrow-minded bigotry to the nice, white nation of your dreams.
There is comedy in racism from the likes of Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Andrew Dice Clay, etc, etc, etc.. What Michael Richards did was not comedy. His tirade was the product of a small, frustrated mind looking to lash out in the most vile and offensive manner he knew. Had the hecklers been white, I'm certain he'd have used entirely different rhetoric, but the desire to offend and insult would have been the same.
Now, from a business sense, I have to admit, Mr. Richards' timing is impeccable considering this meltdown coincides with the release of the Seinfeld DVDs. And, in light of his rather feeble apology, I see this as nothing but an attempt to both remain relevant in the world of entertainment, and to kill off a character for which he will always be typecast. It's amazing though. He went from being one of the most lovable characters on television, and in one felled swoop, he became one of the most despised celebrities in America. This will, undoubtedly, effect the sales of the DVDs, and a part of me feels that this is exactly what he wanted. After all, if you look at Richards' complete body of work, you'll see that he's been playing the Kramer-esque character for his entire career. And, the easiest way to shake that hipster-doofus character is to take a trip t
I am so sick of people trying to make it seem like what Michael Richards said was okay and trying to justify what he did by bringing up what other people in comedy do, like Chris Rock and all of them. Yes, Chris Rock may talk about what people but not only do he talk about them, he talks about blacks and all races. It is part of his act. What Michael Richards did was not part of his act. He was directing his comments to one or more individuals of the black race. Some white people try to make it seem like that was not racist, if it wasn't I do not know what it was. I look at as if he could say something like that out of rage then that is how he truly feels and therre is nothing to excuse that. And I am sorry but he can take that apology and stick it up his ass because it is no a sincere apology. He is only doing it because it probably hurt the sells of the Sinfled dvd and now we all know how he truly feels. And for those people that say that we need to stop calling one another the "N" word yes we do. But what the white people fail to realize is yes it is okay for us to call one another that but when a white person does it, it is racist and causes alot of trouble. That is just like a black person calling a white person a Cracker or a Hunkie or something else beside white. We need to get out of this racist work and white people stop trying to make it seem like you are superior because you are not. We have low, medium and high class in every race. We are all equal because that is how God created us. And that is what we all need to remember. And as someone else said"they tell us to go back where we came from, sorry to say but I am from here (born and raised) but yeah they never should of brought our ancestors over here but that did not stop those white man back then from sleeping with the black women. If blacks are beneath the whites why did they do it then and still do
I have a few remarks for a few people. For real lets get it all straight and out there on the table. I am a black woman who feels that anyone that singles someone out and calls them a nigga, cracker, jew or whatever is racist, point blank. There is nothing to excuse it. Now for this people that put there comments on this blog keep it real. For Diana2kids black people are not more racist then whites. Some white people talk down to us like we are nothing like all white people come from a better place then us. I don't think so. To mpe5639635, yes the whites are more in population then the blacks but key thing is, if white people were so damn superior then they would not need to have their asses on public aid now would they. To mrosey3 about the movies about white people, please do not get it twisted or confused, white people make movies about blacks all the time where they make fun of us and copy us (just like the clip they should about Michael Richards playing a black person) but as soon as a black person does it you white people get all sensitive.
If you were not a racist you would see Michael Richards comments for what they are "RACIST" and stop making excuses for what the hell he did. Yeah he went on the talk show, which is hosted by a white person with mostly a white audience. But after there was no response from that show why go to a black person and ask them for help. You would need to apologize if you wouldn't said what you said. I am sorry I don't care how made you get to say something like means that is how you truly feel about the black race. Now if the hecklers were white, would he have called them crackers? Come on world "Let's keep it real!"
Good night all I will end this now because I can go on for days!
Mike's going to team up with Gibson for a Hating Black Jews comedy tour, coming to a Beer hall near you.
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