New Site Targets Chattering (and Now Tweeting) Classes

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 6, 2009 10:17 AM CDT
New Site Targets Chattering (and Now Tweeting) Classes
Mediaite.com, a site run by former MSNBC host Dan Abrams, launched today.   (Newser screen grab)

There's been lots of media chatter about Mediaite.com, the website Dan Abrams rolled out this morning, most of it sight-unseen, challenging the former MSNBC host's intention to continue to run a media strategy firm alongside the site. Howard Kurtz, one of those critics, now takes a look at the site, which offering a sassy, scandal-fueled take on print, TV, and the net. One prominent feature is a ranking of media types which may fuel vanity but be of questionable utility, Kurtz notes on finding that he is apparently more influential than Conan O'Brien.

Mediaite is run by a lean team of just five, and Abrams has stumped up all the cash for the launch. Its editor, Rachel Sklar, promises a "super-fun" approach to "where the media are going," with remunerated contributors alongside unpaid bloggers. Yet concerns about the site's impartiality remain, Kurtz says; Abrams has not disclosed his consultancy's clients, and media blogger Jeff Jarvis told him, "I'm sorry, but this smells."
(More Mediaite stories.)

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