I like the Huffington Post.
I read the Huffington Post every day.
I write for the Huffington Post!
The politics is a little left of me some of the time, but that's easier on my ears than the noise on the right.
What's getting on my nerves is that HuffPo—and I hope they don't dock my pay for saying so!—is clearly using celebrity news and tabloid-ish gossip to draw imbeciles to the site, for the purposes of building traffic to sell more ads.
Some headlines I saw yesterday:
Mom's Tweets After Son Drowns Sparks Controversy
Boy Accidentally Shoots Himself With Gun Left Under Christmas Tree
WATCH: Drunk 4-Year-Old Steals Christmas Presents
Stepfather Stuck 42 Needles in Young Boy As Part of 'Religious Ritual'
I don't want to read those stories. In fact, I don't want to sidestep them as I scroll down looking for the latest Jon Stewart video.
Huffington Post used to be a site that was organized to appeal to readers, not accident gawkers. Now don't get too greedy, Arianna.
HuffPo Update, 12/21
Arianna, did you not get my Tweets? Your headlines today:
Pig's Farts Start Huge Gas Leak Scare
WATCH: D.C. Police Detective Pulls Gun in Snowball Fight
WATCH: Badass Cat On Roomba Slaps Pit Bull
Paramedics Ignore Dying Pregnant Woman While On Coffee Break
Interspersing these stories among serious pieces about health care reform and climate change, Arianna, does send a political message to your readers:
It's all bullshit, it's all for fun, it's all for traffic.
That's a nice theory, Arianna.
And an old one, too.
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