ranSACkedmedia

We’re getting ready to broaden our scope here at ranSACkedmedia, and besides stealing aggregating local content which we think you might enjoy and find relevant, we’re also going to start simply recommending things that you, the visitor, might find informative or provocative as well. This could come in the form of providing a hyperlink with a short description of another local blog, or by offering a review of a new music release that has some sort of local tie or importance, or even via an original critique on a neighborhood business or an event.

To start things off, I want to recommend the terrific 2011 documentary “Page One: Inside the New York Times”, which you can watch right now if you have a Netflix streaming account. While “Sacramento” is not mentioned once in the entire piece, I still believe that the message of the film is an important one that also applies to the people who live in the Capitol City.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve seen several online comments that argue that the Sacramento Bee is “broken” or that somehow this teeny-tiny little website is “better” that what the local McClatchy division is producing on a daily basis. This is not a philosophy which I subscribe to at all. I have a great deal of respect for the hard work and effort it takes to produce the quality stories which I myself consume nearly ever hour, if not more often. The simple fact is that without the Bee or other media outlets like it, ranSACkedmedia would not even exist.

In any case, “Page One” offers the viewer a peak behind-the-scenes and into the newsroom at the New York Times during a period in which it is experiencing crises on multiple fronts at once. Diminishing advertising revenues, competition for eyeballs from new digital media platforms, the shift away from print subscriptions and the physical newsstand and flashy aggregate websites who cater to a younger demographic are all are causing the mainstream media to slowly die the death of a thousand cuts. In the end, the ramifications for the populace at large is left up for you to decide.

It may be little too “inside baseball” of a film for many of you, but for those who enjoy peeling back the layers to see what the media-onion is made of, I think you’ll find it immensely informative.

If you have an idea for future “ranSACked recommends” subject, we’d like to hear from you! Simply send an email to ranSACkedmedia@gmail.com and put “ranSACked recommends” in the subject line. Your idea could end up being used in a future article.

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