Phillyist: Asshole of the Week

Generic

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:16:46 -0500

You realize that's The One Ring To Rule Them All that he's flashing, right?

Mike Muller

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:00:58 -0500

Barack Obama touched me inappropriately, and I'm still voting for him. Now THAT'S incendiary!

gijyun

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:35:12 -0500

i totally agree, and that's sort of what i like to hear. if you want to be the blog that calls barack obama an asshole, i would hope that you would have well-stated, thought-provoking reasons for it, and i'd sort of respect you for being totally ballsy. it'd be a lot better than being the blog that called barack obama an asshole on accident.

Ross Currie

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:05:56 -0500

Hmmm, just out of curiosity, what if we did call Barack Obama an asshole, for unreasonably getting up people expectations about what he can accomplish (and how much it's going to cost in taxpayer dollars)? Would that not be okay? But would it be okay if we called John McCain an asshole for giving up the experience card so easily in making a VP selection that was a transparently desperate play to lure some Hillary voters while appeasing the conservative base? We have no obligation to be liberal shills. And if Obama does something (with local implications) that merits being called out in this column, then he will be. We don't expect that to happen, but we don't see why he should be off limits.

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:01:10 -0500

Haha. Point taken! If you're logged in as a commenter, the posts on the homepage shouldn't be truncated, but sometimes, your cookies can get confused and do it anyway. If at the top of the page (on the white bar), you change your view to "full view" (even if it says that it's there already), you'll get full posts, or at least full-to-the-break-where-the-author-intended-it posts.

gijyun

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:56:49 -0500

i also understand where you're coming from. but shocking a reader into continue reading a post out of morbid curiosity instead of just being compelling with your words is how you intend to retain your traffic might not be the best strategy. especially when you're truncating posts on your homepage - for me, and almost for the first commenter, you were the "ist" that just called barack obama an asshole.

Ross Currie

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:55:58 -0500

In fairness, there was a video relevant to the story, but I went out on a limb and guessed that no one was going to actually watch a 26 minute long video of a phone interview with Mr. Berg, in which Berg doesn't even appear physically.

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:50:25 -0500

Ross Currie

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:47:13 -0500

We can understand where you're coming from, but in the first instance, we're not a news blog. But even leaving that aside, to the extent that we have a responsibility to monitor our "journalistic qualities," I don't think there's anything inappropriate about the photo. As Spencer pointed out, it's only misleading if you don't bother to actually read the column. And the image is relevant to the subject of the column. Besides, if you looked at the title of the post, and the photograph, and then went ahead and read the column because the connection between the image and the title evoked an emotional response from you, then the photo more than served its purpose: it got you to read the article, which you otherwise might not have.

gijyun

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:19:39 -0500

i get that the column is incendiary. as editor, i'm surprised that you'd let the post be published like that - i'm not even the only commentor to say something about it and i'm told to "relax." there are hundreds of philly news blogs that do a good job of monitoring their journalistic qualities while still being clever and witty - this is slowing becoming one i can do without. pardon me for expecting more from phillyist.

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:30:44 -0500

Dude, it's a weekly column meant to be incendiary. Relax.

gijyun

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:07:33 -0500

personally, a more thoughtful alternative would've been appreciated.

Ross Currie

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 10:50:21 -0500

The kind that we couldn't get ahold of any Creative Commons-licensed photos of Mr. Berg to use.

gijyun

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 10:37:21 -0500

what kind of editorial message did you mean to send by posting a huge picture of barack obama under that kind of headline?

phillybits

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 07:44:14 -0500

Yeah, this guy is a complete tool. I wonder if he'll reference Larry Johnson and the Quest for the Holy Whitey Tape if the case ever comes before a judge. Which it won't.

Spencer Williams

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:36:23 -0500

I thought you were naming Barack Obama as "asshole of the week" as first. Glad I actually read it! ;)