Fark.com is the go to web site for silly news stories. So naturally its creator, Drew Curtis, was the obvious choice to host a panel on “How to Save Journalism” at SXSWi 2010.
Curtis is a funny guy. Actually, he’s really funny. But the panel wasn’t all fun and games. It covered some serious topics – like distribution platforms. One panelist said there’s a lot of good journalism out there, but if you don’t have the platform to deliver it, it’s useless. Will the iPad save journalism? It will definitely create a new revenue stream for news organizations – but no one knows how powerful the impact will really be.
Jeff Webber, the editor of USAToday.com, said it pains him that journalists beat themselves up as much as they do. Another panelist, Kelly McBride from Poynter, said professional journalism may be dying, but journalism is not. She took comfort in the fact that we are reading more news content than ever before.
But enough about journalism and its pending (or not) death… Drew Curtis has long been a favorite of mine so it was great to hear how sharp he is on this topic. Then, throw in the fact that I got to meet the great Tucker Max, author of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. He’s a friend of Curtis’ and was hanging out in the crowd. I talked to both after the panel, which was one of the biggest thrills in my life. A quick note – Curtis and Max both cuss in these interviews, so if you’re offended by curse words please do not watch. And I want to find the person who closed the curtains in the middle of the interview with Max…
(If you’ve never read Tucker’s story about the Austin Embassy Suites, you can find it here. But do not read it if you’re easily offended. I repeat – do not read it if you’re easily offended.)
And here is the interview with Curtis. It was a big honor to interview both of these guys.
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I, as a feminist, should not love Tucker Max, but I cannot help it. I think he is hilarious and I am so excited that he was at SXSW. No matter how big of an “asshole” he really is, the man can definitely write some awesome stories. I already have his book pre-ordered on Amazon.com which goes against everything I believe in. Awesome interview!
-Jessie Spielvogel
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It may hurt his rep, but he was a really nice guy in person and was very polite to the women who came up to him in the crowd. His book is hilarious – can’t wait to read the new ones!
Thanks for watching the interview! (I’m still upset someone shut the curtain during it…which is why it got so dark all of a sudden.)
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What great interviews! I think being this is an exciting time to be a journalist! We are on the verge of a new frontier. Sure traditional media may start to disappear, but the possibilities of what the future holds are endless and exciting. I think journalists will come out strong if they keep a positive attitude and start thinking outside of the box.
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This article shows that no matter what, people want to know what’s going on in the world. I really liked what Kelly McBride said, “professional journalism may be dying, but journalism is not.” It’s so true. Of course it pisses me off now that there are people our there getting more airtime and ink than me and have no degrees in Journalism or Broadcasting while I’m here in school shelling out money like schmuck.
BTW Who is this woman that Curtis supposedly killed?
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Thanks for the kind comments Hillary and Mike! It was a fascinating panel and I actually got nervous interviewing Tucker and Drew. Haven’t had that happen in a while 🙂
I should have explained the murder in 1990 stuff. A satire web site started insinuating that Glenn Beck murdered a woman in 1990 since he’s never denied it (much like Beck often says people did stuff since they never denied it). So it was a running joke between Drew and Tucker that day. http://bit.ly/MPJwT (content may be kinda offensive, so be careful clicking on that link)
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I was really surprised to see Tucker Max was part of a panel. It is cool to see that someone whose writing is so hilariously filthy would be invited to an intellectual panel. He seems like a really smart guy and I liked the interview questions because they allowed him to give long, open ended answers.
My favorite part of these interviews is the fact that I wasn’t familiar with fark.com before I read this, and now I really like it. It is a great idea because his site gets a lot of traffic and helps out all kinds of news organizations with boosting their traffic.
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Kenny – just to be clear, Tucker wasn’t part of the panel. He was merely in the crowd. But it was striking to see how smart he is. I think people write him off because he’s filthy, yet it’s obvious the guy is very smart.
Thanks so much for the kind words!