Blog @ MoreWhat.com

Another post on what seems to be popular at various locations around the net that represent the Main Stream Media. The term MSM is overused here as well as other places and may not be such a useful identifier any longer. What the hell is main stream anyway? Is it an indication of the most common, most popular, most authoritative or simply the most commercially successful media outlets that cause their content to be the most influential among large audiences based on market share? These are probably questions for another post, another time.

The MSM source reviewed for most popular content and additional categories today is the NYT. It was the first source that came to mind based on prolonged attention of the newspaper itself in the MSM as well as the blogosphere, talk radio and elsewhere. You can decide what the following information implies about the New York Times.

Articles most frequently e-mailed by NYTimes.com readers.

1. Boom Times for Dentists, but Not for Teeth
2. Picky Eaters? They Get It From You
3. Dress Codes: After Years of Being Out, the Necktie Is In
4. David Brooks: The Odyssey Years
5. Makers Pull Infant Cold Medicines
6. Op-Ed Contributor: How China Got Religion
7. Thomas L. Friedman: Generation Q
8. Preoccupations: E-Mail Is Easy to Write (and to Misread)
9. Paul Krugman: Sliming Graeme Frost
10. Doris Lessing Wins Nobel Prize in Literature

The first story is about increasing dental fees and lack of insurance blamed for people ignoring cavities. That is the number one emailed item. If you are postponing or procrastinating on dental care, significant dental problems will only allow that for a limited time before it is unavoidable if only due to the pain. How many people get cavities after the cavity-prone early years? Are dentists being added to the list of villains?

Number two offers a study that ‘blames’ genetics as the cause of ‘picky eaters’ habits. Does it seem like genes are getting a bad rap? Do we now get to blame all undesirable behavior on mother nature? Is there any responsibility placed on individuals? Is it a matter of choice or are we victims of circumstance?

Item number three indicates 20 and 30 something men are favoring less casual dress in opposition to the earlier trend named ‘casual Fridays.’ Does this mean the clothing stores will discontinue buying inventory all of which looks like sleepware? Will young women decline to wear undergarments on the outside or refrain from covering only what is legally required?

Fourth place finds columnist David Brooks being bested by two villains and a fashion statement. One can only ponder whether his writing is viewed favorably or not. As it would appear he performs the conservative duties countered by Mark Shields liberal leanings on the PBS News Hour hosted by Jim Lehrer in their Friday discussions, it is again left to the audience to determine the value of the commentary. Was the author who wrote for the Weekly Standard that ended up at the NYT late to the game? Brooks once suggested that an opportunity to work for the NYT was the holy grail or brass ring of journalistic ambitions. The timing suggests that the move came after the revelation exposing plagiarism within the ranks and lax oversight by management amid allegations of publishing habits that posed a clear and present danger to national security.

The remaining contents of the NYT most emailed list are left for the reader to inspect if so inclined. The titles supplied in this post give an indication of the content represented and need no additional explanation. There are brief summaries available at the NYT for those reluctant to read the full stories. That list as well as the most searched terms should give anyone an idea of the readership of the NYT.

That climate, global warming, Al Gore and arctic are found on the list may suggest an obsession with the environment and an unhealthy fixation on one side of an issue. The presence of other groups of related search terms may also suggest the thinking of the audience and any successful business knows appealing to their preferred market reflects well on the bottom line. Is it too foolish to propose that content appealing to a broad range of viewpoints could be equally successful?

1. clinton
2. cancer
3. crime
4. climate
5. darfur
6. conspiracy
7. diana
8. bush
9. immigration
10. china
11. united health care
12. iraq
13. global warming
14. india
15. education
16. nobel prize
17. health
18. al gore
19. supreme court
20. turkey
21. ann coulter
22. jena 6
23. columbia university
24. gay
25. science
26. iran
27. college
28. armenian genocide
29. the odyssey years
30. korea
31. blackwater
32. doris lessing
33. none
34. october
35. radiohead
36. david brooks
37. food
38. school shooting
39. drugs
40. religion
41. business
42. dentist
43. arctic
44. marketing
45. sex
46. crossword
47. myanmar
48. women
49. thomas friedman
50. generation q

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MoreWhat.com

Trackposted to Right Pundits, Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson’s Website, , The Random Yak, guerrilla radio, Big Dog’s Weblog, Right Truth, Stix Blog, The Populist, Shadowscope, Leaning Straight Up, Cao’s Blog, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, The Pet Haven, Adeline and Hazel, Nuke’s, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, third world county, Faultline USA, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, CORSARI D’ITALIA, and Church and State, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 12th, 2007 at 5:32 pm and is filed under wordpress, News Media, Opinion, David Brooks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.