Friday, August 26, 2016
The death of the frum news websites and blogs
The frum news Blogs and websites have become a bigger joke than they already are. Anonymous editors giving their two cents on things they have absolutely no understanding about. There is no substantive articles or any tochen anymore. The news you see is the latest viral videos making its round on social media. The competition with social media and with other websites has forced the blogs to sink even lower in getting more hits. Yeshiva world news is yeshiva in name only it does not represent the yeshiva world at large or its hashkafos. It has become a chasiddish bashing site with shocking headlines looking to get more hits. The comments are full of hate and lashon hora on any hashkafos that are foreign to the anonymous editors. VIN is a has been site that most ehrlich people stay away from. Matzav the better of the bunch has become a frum TV station posting silly videos and the latest hock on wattsapp. Every post is a video. Only simchas and Simcha spot have joined in with mudding the news waters with inappropriate pictures and content. As always these anonymous sites should not and can not be taken seriously. However its about time there should be a online voice of Torah true hashkafos with Rabbonim publicly supporting it. The way it is now, yiddishkeit is misrepresented by amateurs, bloggers, and haters of Torah.
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In fact, in the low rent press, such as LOHUD (also known as the Urinal News) and APP have taken to citing VIN as their source in place of FM.
ReplyDeleteThat is right, VIN is now seen to be the replacement for FM.
www.aish.com/sp/ph/10-Ideas-Judaism-Gave-the-World.html
ReplyDeleteIf I may add Harry the charedi basher and Yanky Horow the charedi apologist have quoted VIN AND YWN to push their agenda promoting themselves painting the forum communities in a bad light. Theses self serving Internet trolls have used these from websites to promote themselves in a virtual world. In real life they wouldn't even get a mezuman to listen to their drivel.
ReplyDeletehamodia
ReplyDeleteProblem: Matzav DID have rabbonim who backed them when they started. They had letters from Rabbi Israel Belsky and others. About 10-12 letters, if I remember correctly. A website is not a sefer. There is no way to guarantee continuity that is true to the cause. The writers change, and so does so much more.
ReplyDeleteYWN started very, very idealistic. Read their archives from 2006 (if they haven't trashed them yet). Hiring Spiro made their website make about 5-10 times the revenue that they got beforehand. The rest is history.... They realized what is profitable.
Your little baby, Hamodia, is far from perfect. In their attemp to coddle the MO they have come out on the wrong side of so many issues. From the war on Metzitza B'peh - which they pretended did not exist, and kept on honoring the war's proponents. Same with the messianic cult - they still publish their stuff and highlight their rabbis. Same with not reporting antisemitism at Ivey league colleges - they're afraid of distancing their MO readership who prefer to think that Eisof ohev Yaakov. And so much more. Their website will be just as bad!
We have a problem - we do not have any idealistic newspapers or news websites. The same issues exist in the Yiddish press.
In order to come up with a solution, we must go back to the drawing board. We must first
A) Identify the problems.
B) Identity the needs.
C) Then draw up a plan based upon the above, that is right for our generation.
The Jewish Observer, Olomeinu, the Torah Journals of old aregone - because their needs, or the effectiveness of their solutions are gone.
Newspapers are not solutions anymore. Information and ideas travels with, or without, them. We must go back to the drawing board.
Matzav owner was close with Rav Belsky. I doubt Rav Belsky approved of all the content that was posted. Even years ago Matzav posted some heavy Lashon Hora which was eventually pulled off the site. NOw matzav is trying to compete with Only Simchas and others by publishing hock off the watsapp groups.
DeleteVery simple get Roshei yeshiva and Rabbonim to publicly back a torah media outlet or newspaper. It should not be a money making entity but a voice for torah values and hashkafos. There should be an editorial board of Respected Roshei yeshiva that makes the decisions. Prominent baalei batim should finance the paper/website so it is not beholden to questionable advertisers and sponsors. It will force other sites to either clean up their act or fall by the wayside as people wont patronize anonymous sites that spew filth and garbage.
DeleteRav Elya Brudny is supposedly the Rav Hamachshir of YWN.
DeleteTo 9:29 PM:
DeleteI did not say that rabbi Belsky (or the others who wrote letters) approved all of what they wrote. To me it was obvious that they didn't. I'm sorry for not spelling it out more clearly. My point was in response to this line:
However its about time there should be a online voice of Torah true hashkafos with Rabbonim publicly supporting it.
We've been there, done that and it failed!!! Doing it again is not the right solution.
All this leaves us with a problem. My solution is to go back to the drawing board and come up with a whole new plan of action. For instance, the asifa in Citifield was one plan. It definitely made a mark. But it is obviously not the end-all. Additionally, it wasn't done in the it was originally planned and intended. We need more original ideas, whatever they may be.
BTW, who is the owner of Matzav?
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To 9:59 PM:
Nice idea, but won't work!
1) Do rabbonim make mitakes? At times, even huge mistakes! The Yated's decisions used to be made by Rav Schach. But we're way, way past that. They're still the best show in town, but they've definitely gone way off. Same with Hamodia. Hamodia will still stubbornly stick with Chabad because they can't admit that the LS may have been mistaken. They also can't admit that the PM was right.....
Just take a look at Matzav: They had a group of Rabbonim who backed them. Where did they end up? You have to be a roeh es hanolod! Learn from past occurrences.
2) Which rabbonim have the time to go through the websites. Yes, rav Elya Svei went through the Yated before publication every week for their first few years. As noted, we're way past that. It is impossible to provide a good news website that gives internet readers the instantaneous hack that they want. We need to go back to the drawing board. Maybe a more kosher site could fill a role in the solution. But it may only be 5% of the solution.
I see that you have added a new post and updated it at 9:30 AM on Augaust 26. You did not let comments that were written earlier through. Why? If you are really sincere, why would you shut down the conversation? But this proves the point: Whoever will run any website will become blinded by their own thoughts, goals and objectives.
ReplyDeleteWhich website ever had rabbonim publicly backing them with no anonymous editors hiding behind it??
ReplyDeleteMatzav editors are a secret.
But they were not a secret to Rabbi Belsky and their other rabbinic backers. That didn't help. The readers obviously do not care.
DeleteAs to the idea of not being beholden to advertisers. Instead they should be beholden to some rich haackers? Does a certain gevir who fathered a goyeshe child come to mind? (Oh, and Hamodia still gives him all sorts of kavod!) The people giving their money end up calling the shots.
He who pays the piper, calls its tunes.
Vehr ess hoht der mayah, hoht der daya.
THERE'S ALWAYS CIRCUS TENT, THE REAL SITE FOR B'NEI TORAH
ReplyDeleteMeh. Or mehhhh.
DeleteSo you got yourself a temporary resurrection, and you're all giddy? Your little blog and it's bitter readers will be gone in just a few weeks. Big deal.
Why did this topic receive 10 comments, compared to other topics which usually receive 0 comments?
ReplyDeleteMatzav often publishes Lubavitch material these days. A giant change.
ReplyDeleteAlso lots from JDN.
I use YWN for the basic news. Other stuff like politics and views I take with a grain of salt. I find their CoffeeRoom amusing, I go there often to chill out. I'm mostly for the humorous ones, you'll find quite a lot.
ReplyDeleteYudels blog is the best blog ever
ReplyDeleteAlthough I would prefer if he stuck to kashrus and make a seperate blog for lakewood politics etc
Hamodia is still the best of the bunch, although they need lots of help. Their profiling of lubavitch is no more than their representation in society. Ignoring them helps nobody and their foolishness is not enough to remove them from society. The yated is a fully goyische paper, conflating repubclinaism with Judaism. The lowest common intellectual denominator
ReplyDeleteDr. Feige Russ said:
ReplyDelete“Communication is most difficult when emotions are high.”
SOURCE: The Jewish Press, 2007/11/23, page F3.
Isn't your blog also a frum news website? Does your criticism apply to you too?
ReplyDeleteMatzav started as an email list in the late 1980s, before the invention of the Web. It was mostly for Israel news that wasn't getting reported in the American press.
ReplyDeleteWhere does the Daas Torah blog by Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn fit into the totem pole here?
ReplyDelete