Welcome to the 17th episode of “The Mediatwits,” the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift’s Mark Glaser and Staci Kramer, editor of PaidContent, who’s filling in for Rafat Ali. This show looks at the week’s big changes in the media landscape. First, Steve Jobs announced he was stepping down as CEO of Apple, moving into a new position of chairman, while Tim Cook would become CEO. Next, Jim Romenesko said he was going into semi-retirement and would be leaving the column that has his name on Poynter.
Third, Slate announced layoffs, including Tim Noah and Press Box columnist Jack Shafer, a longtime media critic. Shafer was a guest on this episode of the Mediatwits, talking about the situation at Slate and calling Romenesko a “great American.” But where there is change and the ending of eras, there’s always a beginning, too, so second guest Owen Thomas talked about his new venture, The Daily Dot, where he is executive editor. As a bonus, the discussion even went back to Shafer’s early profile of Suck.com back when Shafer worked at the SF Weekly (yes, he really did).
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Intro and outro music by 3 Feet Up; mid-podcast music by Autumn Eyes via Mevio’s Music Alley.
Here are some highlighted topics from the show:
Staci Kramer as co-host
1:30: Staci working in the field 80% of the time
2:10: Rundown of stories for the podcast
Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple
4:20: Jobs is ill, but not dead
6:00: Jobs made such a large impact in the media world
9:00: Simplicity of 99 cents for a song on iTunes
10:45: Staci won’t forgive him for not having removable batteries
Special guest Jack Shafer
12:45: Shafer calls it “noise in the system” and not a trend
15:10: Staci mentions that layoffs are happening all over in media
17:45: Mark wonders if there’s a change in media criticism
20:00: Romenesko as master curator
23:00: Shafer says Romenesko suffered from rise of Twitter
Special guest Owen Thomas
26:00: How Suck.com relates to the Daily Dot
28:30: Daily Dot wants to write about people on the web
32:10: How do reach people in online communities?
36:10: Using a newspaper metaphor on an online news site
More Reading
Steve Jobs Reshaped Industries at NY Times
Steve Jobs and the sound of silence at GigaOm
It Is Amazing How Many Ways Steve Jobs Changed Media at Business Insider
Why Tim Cook Is the Best Choice to Run Apple at Wired
Steve Jobs – 2007 iPhone Presentation on YouTube
2 Legendary Media Writers Depart at the Daily Beast
Jack Shafer: A Fearless Media Critic at AJR
Slate Lays Off Jack Shafer, 3 Others at Adweek
An Interview with Jack Shafer at Adweek
Suck Amok at SF Weekly
An Original Journalism Blogger Logs Out at NY Times
How the Romenesko years have changed journalism and Poynter at Poynter
5 Lessons Learned Building the Daily Dot, a Media Startup at MediaShift
The Daily Dot: Interesting idea, but not a great metaphor at GigaOm
Dead Squirrel Girl’s Parents Defend Video at Daily Dot
Weekly Poll
Don’t forget to vote in our weekly poll, this time about what you’ll miss most about Steve Jobs:
Mark Glaser is executive editor of MediaShift and Idea Lab. He also writes the bi-weekly OPA Intelligence Report email newsletter for the Online Publishers Association. He lives in San Francisco with his son Julian. You can follow him on Twitter @mediatwit.
