Today in The Assault On Film Criticism: two salvos from journalists who just don’t seem to get the online tools and communities that they’ve credited with having ar too much power. Since neither argument is new I would have ignored these stories individually, but together…
Let’s start with The Wrap, and the kind of story they seem to publish a lot of: 300 words, no news, hyperbolic conclusions. This one’s about FlickTweets, a new site that compiles Twitter updates from about movies — gasp! — normal people. The Wrap’s Maria Russo says the site “could be what helps studios and film critics, not usually the best of friends, find common cause. Both are under siege by the armies of critics at the movies these days packing iPhones and Blackberries.” Theorizing that FlickTweets “could be disastrous for the movie business,” Russo concludes by insulting the intelligence of just about everyone in The Wrap’s target audience: “it’s not clear that the studios — or film critics — could even come up with a defensive strategy.”