Pajama media is shutting down the blog. I can't say I am surprised. What a disappointment and enormous waste of precious and rare blog investment.
I was one of the original pajama bloggers. I thought PJM was going to rival AP, UPI, Reuters. Finally, a news portal of citizen bloggers and journalists that would counter the Pali stringers and left wing biased journalists of the news gathering agencies. But PJM went off the rails. Simon decided to chase big names for big money, but to what end? Who needed another NRO or WSJ Best of the Web? And unlike the left, where Soros, Hollywood libtards and Google-type asshats embarrassingly fund the leftwing sites vis a vis Moveon.org et al, the right has none of that. None. We live on fumes. G-d bless our small advertisers and our readers who contribute.
So it was thrilling that someone was bankrolling the original idea. But Pajama never got it, never understood who or what they were. They were compelled to present both sides. Why? The left didn't have enough - TV, print, cable, left-nets? The idea of balanced coverage was a shoot-yourself-in-the foot strategy. The left owns it all -- why couldn't we have one well financed portal on the web that unabashedly promoted conservative, rational, reasoned arguments and positions with style and chutzpah?
Well, Pajama wasn't it. It was never really on anyone's radar screen except the big names they paid silly sums to. They never released their traffic - never. They would include all the PJM bloggers numbers added together when discussing readership. They would never post sitemeter (Atlas has approximately 20,000 views a day).
I joined when Pajama launched .......... summer 2005. Atlas was 4 months old - with 400 readers a day. I stayed a year. They paid small blogs almost no dough -- while prohibiting us from taking any other advertising. No other advertising. Hey, no one is in this for the money, but we ain't commies either. So I left. And I never missed it. I thought they missed the boat, lost a golden opportunity to alter the direction of human history. Huff Po, that maroon, did a better job than all those geniuses at PJM.
Can you imagine if I were given 20% of what was invested in PJM? I am one person. No assistants, no interns, no editors, nuthin. I would have had bands of free men roving the world reporting into Atlas central. TV, video, newsletters, action alerts, campaign headquarters -- serious ass whuppin.
Here is the breakup letter.
Dear Jeff,
As you know, last September Pajamas Media began a new initiative in Internet television called Pajamas TV. When we started with our RNC coverage from Minneapolis, we noted that we would be in a Beta Phase through the first quarter of 2009. In the last few months we have strengthened the PJTV lineup with shows covering Media Bias, Education Bias, Middle East Update, Sharia and Jihad, Powerline Report, Ask Dr. Helen, Hugh News, Poliwood, Conservatism 2.0, Economy and Finance, National Security, and others.
As the end of the first quarter approaches and we near the production phase of Pajamas TV, we will continue to build our emphasis in this area. As a result we have decided to wind down the Pajamas Media Blogger and advertising network effective March 31, 2009. The PJM portal and the XPressBlogs will continue as is.
Since our ad relationship continues for the time being, you should note that in order to be paid for the 1st quarter of 2009, you must leave the current Pajamas ads up until 12:01AM April 1. We will be sending you information in mid-March on removing the ads. As of April 1, 2009, you will be free to arrange syndication or re-sale deals.
We thank you very much for participating during the formative years of Pajamas Media and we look forward to working with you in other ways. One of those is, of course, Pajamas TV. If you have any ideas in that regard, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Our best wishes in the new year and again our deepest gratitude for your participation in Pajamas Media.
Sincerely,
Roger L. Simon
And so now the focus is Pajama Television. Have you seen the line-up? Can you rattle off the VLOG talent? Are they still charging for it?
Nuts.
UPDATE: I find it strange that Pajamas Media is the sponsor of bloggers row - yes, Atlas is an official blogger of CPAC this year (last year too). When I heard that Pajamas Media had taken over bloggers row I thought it would only be PJM bloggers (not too interesting) and I thought maverick blog voices would be silenced.
I don't know who the other bloggers are, but CPAC did recommend me and PJM said OK. When I see who else is there, I'll know more. But why did PJM sponsor bloggers row (first time bloggers row was taken over) when they were signing off from the blog biz?
Just askin'...
UPDATE: Pajamas Media is not the first sponsor of CPAC's blogger's row.
UPDATE: Uh oh, the Queen is back.
