The new tech tabloids

Harry Marks on the high-profile, high traffic technology blogs:

Business Insider, CNet, ZDNet, eWeek, Gizmodo, and the rest (there really are too many to name) aren’t news organizations, they’re the online equivalents of 24-hour cable news noise networks with half the facts and one-third the personalities.

These websites perpetuate a myth that they are well-informed, knowledgable news outlets that tell the world what it needs to know. What I’ve learned, however, is just the opposite: they’re ad-driven FUD machines that run on pageviews stolen from attention-deficient readers who would rather digest a shocking headline on a digital tabloid than read thoughtful commentary provided on an actual news site.

Things three:

1. Their business model is built on shifting sands. They need unsavvy, uneducated, unfussy volume advertisers. They will decrease over time, and the battle to survive will grow fierce, entertaining, and will eventually destroy what little credibility they have left.
2. Is there any wonder that people are looking to find new forms of slow, long-form journalism?
3. Gullible