Encouraged by massive cross-channel media attention, thousands of visitors flocked to SFGate.com for a look at portions of a controversial video made by the now-former PR director of the San Francisco 49ers as a media-training piece for the team. Someone leaked the months-old video to the SF Chronicle Wednesday and a media storm erupted. Of interest to those trying to figure out how to use the web for material they wouldn’t or couldn’t print/broadcast, SFGate.com took numerous steps while posting the video, which features nudity, profanity and offensive stereotypes; the video was divided into eight segments, each with detailed descriptions; some faces were blurred for privacy; viewers had to affirm that they were 18 or older and understood that the material they were about to see could be offensive to them; they also had to acknowledge that the Chronicle was not responsible for the content. Editor Phil Bronstein told E&P: “The Web can have different standards not covered by the FCC.”
As of Thursday afternoon, portions of the video had been viewed more than 200,000 times; the accompanying article had been viewed more than 100,000 times. No data on ads; the video pages were ad-free but the article pages had the usual mix of display and AdSense. Bronstein said most of the complaints were about the saturation coverage, not posting the video.
The Globe and Mail turned to its web site as the solution for a different problem Thursday, allowing full access for no charge because of a labor protest that kept some customers from getting the print edition. Some G&M content usually is available only to online subscribers of the Insider Edition, which runs $14.95 a month for non-print subscribers and $6.95 for 5-or-6 day subscribers. Boy, that makes TimesSelect, being offered at no extra charge to print subs, sound much better.
Subscriber content
?
Subscriber content comes from Gigaom Research, bridging the gap between breaking news and long-tail research. Visit any of our reports to learn more and subscribe.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Comments have been disabled for this post