Colliding of Worlds - Blogs vs. Traditional Media

So it just came across CNN.com that Ana Marie Cox a/k/a Wonkette, is trading her sword for a pen and moving from Nick Denton's edgy Gawker Media to the far more buttoned-down Time Warner-owned Time.com. Ms. Cox is assuming the new role of Washington editor, which seems pretty cool yet pretty mainstream to me. Congratulations to her. I do find it interesting, however, that someone of her status and success in the blogosphere (in terms of clicks, eyeballs - namely, her following) would be pursued for (and accept) such a seemingly conventional position with such an old-guard publication. Clearly those executives at Time Warner believe that her appeal and following as the ascerbic and witty Wonkette will translate into increased readership on their Time.com site. I wonder what the demographic profile of the Wonkette reader is relative to the Time.com reader? If these demographic profiles are materially different, will Ms. Cox be successful in drawing new readers to Time.com? And if, in fact, she writes in a more, shall we say, toned-down manner as necessitated by the editorial policies of her new employer, will some of her appeal be diluted? I have no idea and I am completely unqualified to answer such questions, but they intrigue me nonetheless.

But I am fascinated by the growing crossover between traditional and non-traditional media, and this is only the latest and highest-profile example of this phenomenon. Bottom line - Wonkette has interesting stuff to say and people eat it up. This is news. If she can bring a little of her joie de vivre (not to mention her rolodex) and character to Time.com I have no doubt she will be able to deliver terrific value for Time Warner's investment. I am also confident that this move is only the beginning of an oscillation back-and-forth across the new media-traditional media divide that will ultimately lead to a single word to describe sites like Wonkette and Time.com - media.

Comments

[Tom Foremski]

Roger, you hit the nail on the head, it is all media :-)
There is no difference between old and new media except in the minds of those that think that the choice of distribution channel makes a difference.

Time magazine has huge numbers of editors largely to make sure everything is written in the same style. I'm sure she will find it frustrating in not being able to write whenever and about whatever strikes her fancy. The salary will be a lot better...but will this be compensation enough for stifling her creativity?