January 30, 2008
Time Out Chicago Does Chicago Magazine's Work For Them
Chicago Magazine's February issue has a list of 171 Chicago-based websites they think are worth checking out. Naturally we're in there ... twice! Once under "News Reporting" and then again as Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis' personal picks. The thing is until today, the only place this list lived was in the magazine, even through Chicago Magazine's website has been telling us "story coming soon" for weeks now.
Luckily for us Time Out Chicago's web editor Scott Smith got tired of waiting for the list to go online, so he just had Alice Park -- one of the magazine's interns -- take the list, transcribe it, and populate it with the correct links. Maybe Chicago Magazine could have a conversation with her about managing time and workflow since it's been weeks and they still haven't accomplished what Park did in a few hours. All of her hard work is on display here.
We're always so happy when we see media outlets scratching the back of older, lazier media outlets.
Also, despite what the Chicago Magazine write-up says, it should be known that we get along with the Gapers Block crew just fine.
UPDATE: Metroblogging Chicago has joined in the cause and has created an OPML file of sites mentioned in both Chicago Magazine and the recent blog-centric issue of Time Out Chicago (which also featured a number of Chicagoists) ... so now you can get your RSS on without worrying about an early case of carpal tunnel syndrome from all that link-clicking!
Photo by Rachelle Bowden
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So let me get this straight, Chicagoist paraphrases a story of another outlets own parahaprase of another story.
And you're calling other older media outlets lazy.
We think Chicagoist needs to read the definition of lazy.
No, I'm calling it "bringing it to your attention."
Though I wouldn't push things by making "Gapers Block" possessive.
thanks for bringing it to my attention (because i don't read other outlets)
word.
Wow: So one media outlet steals the work of another, and this is good? All because some cheapskates could not wait until the story went free on the Web?
And TimeOut considers this worthwhile journalism? Why not spend those few hours on something original? I mean, can't the intern call a few bars and ask about Tuesday-night specials or something?
Pathetic hacks.
can't believe they'd list chicagoist under "news reporting."
Matilda, I think TOC's publishing of the link list amounts to media criticism, i.e, "They're sitting on this story for no reason, so we're going to do it for them." Chicago Mag's policy seems be to wait until the issue's cover date to publish stories online -- but by that time the articles have been available in print for a month. It makes sense for most stories, but it's completely wrongheaded for a story about the internet. If nothing else, publishing it early would have been a service to all the print subscribers, so they wouldn't have to type all those URLs in manually.
Besides, if TOC hadn't published the list, we may not have gotten the truly valuable feed list Chicago Metroblogging created.
(Also: it's true, Chicagoist and GB staffers get along. We aren't the Trib and Sun-Times.)
Time out's slogan should be......
Time Out Magazine. The Very Latest in Wasting Trees
Andrew: Fair point, but shouldn't the decision rest with Chicago magazine? Does TOC get to judge how to best serve another magazine's base?
I understand the frustration about the delay, but that does not excuse this action. TOC is acting like it did something noble when, really, it only mooched off someone else's effort. That's not criticism. (And I say this is a fan of TOC, which does its job well most weeks.)
Another issue: Why do you celebrate getting along with Chicagoist staffers? This is Chicago, and media should fight like wild dogs going after meat. (I say that in half-jest, but only half.)
It's so not worth fighting like wild dogs. Gapers Block's mission is to get people to slow down and check out what's going on around the city, not be your sole news source. Chicagoist does that too, but it's not a zero sum game. Why waste time with pettiness?
Geez, all right already! Normally, we roll out the stories over the course of the month, but here you go—a week ahead of schedule:
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/February-2008/Nothing-But-Net-171-Great-Chicago-Web-Sites/
I didn't realize vigorous competition was pettiness, Andrew.
Then again, few of you are real reporters.