In a sane society, Thursday's damning report from Buzzfeed would be the end of Steve Bannon as a face on cable news and in the mainstream press. The report, ironically relying on a large number of leaked emails, details how Steve Bannon, at the behest of the billionaire Mercer ...read more
Among today's continuing IV drip of awful or disconcerting news to come out of the incoming Donald Trump presidency is this bizarre little item: Trump has ordered the head of the Washington, DC National Guard to step down in the middle of the inauguration ceremony next Friday. ...read more
2016 may have taken Bowie, Prince and Carrie Fisher, among others, but this morning 2017 killed irony. In his highly anticipated, absolutely inevitable tweet-storm in response to last night's release of the details of an intel dossier on Trump that included claims he had paid ...read more
To the Editors of the Washington Post, As the founder and editor of an independent media outlet, I know just how hard it is to build a sustainable business model around content in the digital age. I know this because I have tried, failed, tried again, failed, then after a good ...read more
Not watching it. Instead of a thoughtful break down of whatever went on last night, here's a video of a very cute baby playing peekaboo with an adorable kitten -- a far better use of time when compared to analyzing 7 idiots regurgitating the same tired platitudes to the same ...read more
This article first appeared in issue 25 of 'Banter M' our Members Only digital magazine. When I started The Daily Banter way back in 2007 (yes, we’ve been around for over 8 years), I had a very clear mission in mind. I wanted to start my own publication dedicated to quality ...read more
In late March, CUNY journalism professor Jeff Jarvis reached into his own pocket and paid for a Google Consumer Survey, the results of which should concern anyone who works within the journalism or advertising industry. He did so after browsing the viral aggregation site Upworthy ...read more
(Ashton Kutcher is the founder of a new viral aggregation site) It happens once every few months. A business or media reporter writes a breathless profile of some previously unknown web native who has “cracked the viral code.” We’ve been treated for years to the adage that you ...read more
If you get most of your news from your Facebook feed these days, you probably get the feeling that you've no idea where the articles you read actually come from anymore. Regrettably, this is entirely by design and completely predictable outcome given the digital media's obsession ...read more
In a story that sounds like satire, about a satire writer hired to work for the site he was satirizing and away from the satirical version of that site, Clickhole's Daniel Kibblesmith has just joined Buzzfeed. Mark your calendars, because this is the day the internet collapsed in ...read more
In the weeks leading up to the midterm elections, Georgia Republican senatorial candidate David Perdue found himself in somewhat of a snafu. He'd been caught signing a young female voter's torso. BuzzFeedNewsbroke the story with a seemingly incriminating video provided by ...read more
(image: The BuzzFeed Love Life forecaster) After raising $50 million from Andreessen Horowitz, internet giant BuzzFeed has decided to get into gaming in an effort to further 'reshape' the industry. As reported by Tech Crunch:"The site is building up a games team of its own. Vice ...read more
BuzzFeed, the website responsible for polluting the internet with endless shitty listicles and cat GIFs just raised $50 million from the venture fund Andreessen Horowitz. Reports the Guardian:The round takes BuzzFeed’s total funding to $96.3m since 2008, with the company ...read more
On Friday, BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith published a letter to readers announcing the firing of its Viral Politics Editor, Benny Johnson, who had been caught plagiarizing in some of his articles. Although Smith issued a heartfelt apology, it rang hollow given that it wasn't ...read more
BuzzFeed's Viral Politics Editor and raving conservative Benny Johnson has been fired by the site after two pseudonymous Twitter users accused him of serialplagiarism. On Friday editor-in-chief Ben Smith announced the termination, but it really can't be a surprise that the guy ...read more
Do you remember that part in The Matrix after Neo takes the red pill and finds himself essentially trapped in a gooey synthetic womb? And later Morpheus explains to him that it was part of a literal field of humans that the machines farm to sustain themselves, harvesting ...read more
Last Friday night, I got into a Twitter fight with Buzzfeed founder Jonah Peretti about his site and the general state of journalism in America. It kicked off because of an admittedly snarky piece I wrote about 'The Wolf of Buzzfeed' viral video making the rounds on the internet ...read more
If you haven't seen the hilarious trailer for 'The Wolf of Buzzfeed' you are missing out on 2 minutes of pure brilliance. I say this because I loathe Buzzfeed and pretty much everything they do, and if you're reading the Banter, you'll probably agree that it could well trump Fox ...read more
I'm not making that up. Buzzfeed, which is essentially Patient Zero in the viral death of digital journalism, really posted this. This is wrong on so many levels beginning with the overall seriousness of the situation in Crimea and how Benny Johnson diminished it down to the ...read more
Yet another supposedly sobering and enlightening “Guess what? Women are photoshopped into unattainable ideals” video has hit the Internet. This one, made by Buzzfeed, features four women who have their hair, makeup and photos done by professionals, then they're photoshopped ...read more
The Buzzfeedification of the internet is now reaching epic proportions, with virtually every major publication putting up annoying listicles and shocking headlines to generate pageviews. And it's all the goddam time.This was on the front page of the Huff Post: This - a 'Top 5' ...read more
Buzzfeed is an abomination. It's at the forefront of a movement in media that feels like it's going to eventually leave us all incapable of keeping a thought in our heads for longer than 12 seconds and communicating in anything other than text-speak and Jurassic Park gifs. The ...read more
Happy “OK, I really, really should order those Christmas presents so I don’t get killed on shipping” Day! Here’s what’s happening on the interweb: 1. How The Media Will Report The Apocalypse Award-winning new site Buzzfeed went all meta and mocked how the media would report a ...read more
There's a quote that came back to me in an instant this morning. It's from the dearly departed Fox series Firefly, one of the many great lines scripted by the show's creator, Joss Whedon. After seeming to threaten Captain Malcolm Reynolds by standing menacingly in front of him ...read more
Late yesterday it was announced that Buzzfeed has hired Pulitzer Prize-winner Mark Schoofs to head up its new investigative division. What this means is that you can now start the clock and count down the time before Schoofs goes public with his complaints about how Buzzfeed is ...read more
Cliteracy: 21 Things Millennials Should Know About the Clitoris I get that it's standard practice for each generation to complain about the one coming up behind it, and I generally do my best to avoid painting any large group with a large brush -- but when you're perfectly ...read more
It's Thursday morning and only one more day of staring at your screen till the weekend. Sure, you have work to do, but who cares about that? Read more crap on the internet! It's much more fun. Anyways, here's what's happening in the world today:Obama's (Potential) Quagmire in ...read more
It has been a while since we ripped into inescapable force that is BuzzFeed - the new media company that epitomizes everything that is wrong with online news media. Don't get me wrong, some of their content is eminently readable - everyone loves a top ten list every now and ...read more
I had to read this twice to make sure this was real. Here's a snippet from the 'narrative' of the crisis in Egypt in Jurassic Park GIFs, created by BuzzFeed staff writer Benny Johnson:This made many in the international community nervous.Via: dinosaursfourever.tumblr.comA ...read more
By now you undoubtedly know about the very sad death of iconoclastic Rolling Stone and Buzzfeed contributor Michael Hastings, who was killed early yesterday morning in a car crash in Los Angeles at the age of 33. Right off the bat it practically goes without saying that Hastings ...read more
Some awful news about one of the industry's brightest, and youngest stars. From Rolling Stone:Michael Hastings, the fearless journalist whose reporting brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal, has died in a car accident in Los Angeles, Rolling Stone has learned. He ...read more
Gots to love the BuzzFeed...the team at 'LOL' central are off to a rollicking start this week and have polluted the web-o-sphere with some real gems. Here are the top 5 stupidest top 10 lists thus far (and incredibly it's only Tuesday):1. The 25 Most Powerful "I Want It That ...read more
You have to give it to BuzzFeed - their ability to churn out 'top 10' lists defies anything the internet has ever known before. There is certainly a skill to compiling completely meaningless lists (as we're doing here), and it's about time the much laughed at media company got ...read more
BuzzFeed, 'The Next Big Thing' in journalism has a very clear business model: Do anything to get clicks, regardless of how fucking stupid it is. This isn't to say that the viral site is without merit - BuzzFeed is certainly very clickable and quite fun to read (the french ...read more
It's official: Mitt Romney has decided this election is about the base, and not the center. From BuzzFeed:Three Romney advisers told BuzzFeed the campaign's top priority now is to rally conservative Republicans, in hopes that they'll show up on Election Day, and drag their less ...read more