The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘It’s Not About Politics, It’s About News’

Posted on | January 6, 2013 | 15 Comments

That, in seven simple words, is what Ali Akbar has been thinking about for the past month. He and I have had several long conversations about what an effective, innovative New Media operation would look like and, by the end of this month, he plans to start rolling it out at Viral Read.

Not much to see there now, but don’t sweat it. An expanded team has been recruited, a site re-design is in beta mode and, most of all, Ali’s been doing a lot of research about what exactly he wants to do. What he wants to do is something that works, something that succeeds.

Like I said, there have been a lot of long conversations, but if Ali hasn’t been making much noise online the past few weeks, there is a reason.

Go look at MediaGazer. Go look at TechMeme. Go look at WeSmirch. Lots of news in the world has nothing to do with politics. For that matter, go look at the Drudge Report and figure out how many of the headlines — at a site universally recognized as a major force in political news — don’t have anything to do with politics, per se.

Everybody knows Ali Akbar is an experienced Republican operative and conservative activist. But to do what he wants to do with Viral Read, Ali had to get his mind outside his purely political self and think like a businessman – as an entrepreneur, as a publisher.

So he’s been looking at what works — and what doesn’t work. He’s been looking at what succeeds — and what fails. He’s been looking real hard at that kind of stuff. He doesn’t plan to fail.

Nor has he failed to plan, but he has figured out (and this is something I have repeatedly emphasized in our long conversations) that being innovative and creative in New Media requires an experimental approach. If someone had told you in 2005 that Michelle Malkin was going to launch Hot Air, turn it into one of the go-to sites on the Internet, then sell that site and, a year later, launch Twitchy, which would in turn become one of the go-to sites on the Internet . . .

Well, there was just no way to anticipate that, just as there was no way to know in advance that Andrew Breitbart was going to suddenly zoom into glory in 2009 as a result of a video sting operation against ACORN by a couple of kids named James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles.

An entrepreneurial attitude toward New Media requires a trial-and-error approach. You have to try different things, see what works and what doesn’t, and then revamp your original plan (whatever that may have been) to accommodate the reality of a rapidly changing marketplace.

So whenever Ali has the new and improved Viral Read ready to go, don’t expect a Major Public Announcement. Instead, expect . . . news.

Because that’s the name of the game. Also, cute puppy pictures.

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Category: Journalism

Comments

  • Quartermaster

    Just a warning, in case you go looking and expecting to find. There are no cute puppy pictures over there.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003232872834 Becca Lower

    Just wait! ;)

  • BLBeamer

    I’m not very familiar with Akbar’s work, but didn’t he “guarantee” that Ohio would go for Romney as late as November 5th?

    If he is the guy I’m thinking of, why should we look forward to more of that kind of insight?

  • http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/ Evi L. Bloggerlady

    I wish you the best and will help any way I can.

  • http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/ Evi L. Bloggerlady

    Maybe substituting Rule 5 for LOL Cats? Oh wait, it is about the news.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    Cats draw eyeballs, dogs don’t.

  • http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/ Evi L. Bloggerlady
  • Wombat_socho

    Are you implying Rule 5 isn’t news?

  • http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/ Evi L. Bloggerlady

    True. Very true.

  • BLBeamer

    Stacy – I don’t know if you condoned or were even aware of the fact that somebody changed my comment below from what I originally wrote.

    I suspect you had no part in it, because believe me: I have been insulted often, and at length, and by people who know how and this is not even close to being the quality of insult that I would expect coming from you.

    What is also obvious is that I touched a nerve somewhere. As someone who has been a fairly regular commenter here and who has even hit your freakin’ tip jar from time to time, I would have expected someone to at least make sure they understood what I was getting at rather than fling the superfluous insult.

    Really, I thought my comment was pretty benign.

  • robertstacymccain

    I didn’t do this. Will inquire.

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