Bonfire of Vanities: Mediaite Launches To Fill In Media-Covering-Media Void

Rafat Ali — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:49:35 +0000

Mediaite, the oddly-named and controversial site founded by Dan Abrams, has launched. Or is supposed to launch sometime tonight (it worked for me for a minute before going down). In a curiously low-key strategy, it gave the launch story exclusive to Howard Kurtz in WaPo. A media business site it isn’t; it is more concerned with the celeb journos and pundits culture, and plans to pander to it with no apologies. Case in point: a list of top media types, or index, as it calls it (updated based on online buzz of those selected), with names such as Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Jon Stewart, Newt Gingrich and others on it. Or as it would like to be known, a cross between HuffPo and Gawker. And by that it means big giant headlines (the HuffPo part), but stories with less snark than Gawker. Also borrowed from HuffPo: trying to get as many free contributors as possible, Bonnie Fuller among them, according to the WaPo story.

The site currently has a staff of five, and plans to keep it low. Its revenue strategy: advertising (HBO seems to be the only sponsor for now), sponsored stories (like this) and jobs classifieds. As for competition, well, it is right there in its blogroll at the bottom of the homepage. More on the launch, from Abrams, here, and from Rex Sogartz, who designed the site.

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Bonfire of Vanities: Mediaite Launches To Fill In Media-Covering-Media Void