life TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2010 [ MEDIA ] Jezebel — the Web site that roared A recent spat over a TV show’s hiring policies could lead to blog requests being taken more seriously BY SARAH HuGHes THE GUARDIAN, NEW YORK alked about on numerous blogs and Web sites, covered by the New York Times, attacked by The Daily Show and T attracting upwards of 38m global page views a month, the women’s Web site Jezebel has clearly come of age. It also needs to be noted that the site has overtaken its infamous sibling, the gossipy Gawker, in terms of notoriety after a public spat with Jon Stewart’s Daily Show. Gaby Darbyshire, Gawker Media’s chief operating officer, told the New York Observer that Jezebel “has received more complaints per year than any other [Gawker media] site,” while Gawker’s founder, Nick Denton, told the New York Times that it was no longer seen by advertisers as “a cute new entrant” on the blogging scene. The spat with The Daily Show began with a report by the site’s Irin Carmon on the program’s hiring policies, which highlighted the lack of women in senior writing or on-air positions and argued that it was “a boys’ club where women’s contributions are often ignored and dismissed”. Although The Daily Show had declined to comment for Carmon’s original piece, a visibly flustered Stewart attempted to address the issue a week later stating: “Jezebel thinks I’m a sexist prick.” In the days that followed The Daily Show released an open letter rebutting Carmon’s report titled “Dear People Who Don’t Work Here” and signed by more than 30 female employees. Blogs ranging from The Awl to Slate weighed in on the controversy A replica motorcycle from Disney’s yet-to-be released movie Tron: Legacy is displayed during Comic-Con in San Diego on Thursday. PHOTO: REUTERS and a post signed by the Jezebel editors reiterated that, far from having an axe to grind, Carmon had requested a comment from The Daily Show for her initial piece and had been turned down. Meanwhile, The Daily Show’s newest female hiring, Olivia Munn, whose controversial appointment had in part triggered the initial post, gave a forthright interview to Salon stating that “no one knew what the fuck Jezebel was before that story came out ... The Daily Show didn’t know what Jezebel was”. Marketing ‘Tron: Legacy’ brings In this, however, she was clearly wrong — not least because fellow Daily Show employee Samantha Bee is quoted in Rebecca Traister’s upcoming book Big Girls Don’t Cry as saying: “You can really tell when something resonates with people ... I’m always excited when one of mine [her clips on The Daily Show] the hardest sell yet ends up on Jezebel.” The piece had attracted so much controversy because of the growing power that Jezebel wields. In September last year it Six months before its release, signs indicate that Disney’s high-gear marketing campaign has already surpassed the flagship site Gawker in monthly page views and now attracts over 38 million global viewers and 2.6 million unique succeeded in turning the sequel to the 1982 movie into a cultural event global users per month. When launching it in 2007, founding editor Anna Holmes BY BROOKS BARNES conceived it as an antidote to superficial, consumer-led glossies. NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, SAN DIEGO “I thought there was a way to talk about things that women were interested in without talking down to them,” she says. he futuristic movie Tron: 1 show of the 2009 to 2010 season in the movie failed to attract a wide audience. merchandising storm: talking action “It seemed possible to address serious issues with wit and to Legacy is not just pushing the US was no accident. Yes, the execution The story — a man is pulled inside figures with digitally projected faces, acknowledge that women want more from a magazine than boundaries of special effects. of the show mattered. But so did the a video game and is forced to play iPod accessories, Adidas sneakers consumer products.” It is redefining the Hollywood marketing muscle that Fox put behind it. space-age gladiator games — turned off inspired by Tron: Legacy, and clothing. What really stood out, however, was its tone. “I knew that hard sell. Most new shows get eight weeks of mainstream moviegoers. With the core audience on board the one thing I didn’t want was for everything to be all about TBy the time the movie arrives in US promotion. Fox gave Glee more than “It went beyond suburbia’s ability — the online game now has about insulting people,” says Holmes, who stepped down as editor-in- theaters on Dec. 17, Walt Disney Studios a year’s worth. The network started to deal with it at the time,” said Steven 4.5 million active users — Disney is chief two weeks ago. “I thought that there was room to be witty will have spent three and a half years to push the show in February for the Lisberger, who directed and wrote Tron. turning its attention to the people who without being unkind.” priming the audience pump. The most May premiere of a single episode, then Disney cannot afford to have Tron: make the difference between a hit and recent push came last week at Comic- spent the summer fanning the sparks Legacy play out in similar fashion, a blockbuster: mothers, children and Con International, the annual pop culture — screening the pilot at summer camps, which is one reason it is spending so non-technophiles. convention in San Diego. For the third streaming it on Fox.com and blanketing much time trying to position the film The monorail at Walt Disney World year in a row, Disney teased fans with beaches and concerts with fliers. in the marketplace. “We really want to got a Tron: Legacy makeover. The exclusive Tron: Legacy footage. No other “We worked those kids like crazy open it up — the message is that this is Disney XD cable channel will present an movie has guest-starred here so often. over that summer,” said Joe Earley, a film that everyone will find cool and animated miniseries in the fall (followed “We’re going to show you five Fox’s president for marketing, in contemporary and relevant,” Bailey said. by a regular series, to be announced). minutes of the movie every year for 20 reference to the Glee cast. “As reach is The studio first decided to “activate” Most important, Bailey and his studio years,” the comedian Patton Oswalt said becoming more challenging, you need core fans, Bailey said. Disney unveiled a colleagues are working to hammer home as he introduced a third trailer for the more frequency.” Tron: Legacy teaser trailer at Comic-Con the message that Tron: Legacy is more film to about 6,500 people on Thursday. Glee returned for a short run in in July 2008. Over the next year, Disney than a chase through a virtual world. The selling and selling (and selling) of September. But Earley kept up the released more video, introduced an “It’s very focused on a father-son Tron: Legacy is the Hollywood marketing promotional pressure until a second ambitious online game and fed bloggers story,” Bailey said. Jeff Bridges reprises machine in its highest gear yet. Marketing batch of episodes arrived in January. a steady drip of news. his role from Tron as a talented video campaigns for what the industry calls Comic-Con, which ended Sunday, is In July last year at Comic-Con, Disney game programmer; Garrett Hedlund “tent-pole” movies — big budget, big risk, important for entertainment companies introduced a walk-through experience plays his son. big potential payoff — have traditionally because it is a prime spot to start one (lots of vintage arcade games) and a Tron: Legacy, filmed using advanced started about a year before their release of those Internet fires, said Sean Bailey, Twitter-enabled scavenger hunt through 3-D cameras, will inevitably be compared in theaters. Increasingly, that is scarcely Disney’s president for production. the streets of downtown San Diego. A with Avatar, which opened on a similar PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES enough time. “People look to Comic-Con to guide second Tron: Legacy trailer appeared date last year and sold more than US$2.7 With DVRs undermining the No. 1 their moviegoing decisions for the with Alice in Wonderland in March. billion in tickets at the global box office. tool for promoting movies — television rest of the year,” Bailey said. “It’s a Last week, the studio built an even That is perhaps an unfair bar to set. “Jezebel is a site for modern, intelligent women who do not commercials — studios are trying to barometer of what’s cool.” more elaborate walk-through experience But six months before release, there want to be pandered to,” says Jessica Coen, the site’s new editor- create Internet brush fires on behalf of The original Tron, released in 1982 that re-created sets from the movie are signs that Disney is succeeding at in-chief. “We don’t want to talk down to our readers — we want their coming releases. One variant is a and loaded with computer-generated and attracted more than 7,000 visitors turning its movie into a cultural event. to be able to discuss issues both high and low, and address them controlled burn: carefully doling out bits effects, was a hit with the young male over three days. Disney also released Without Disney’s prodding, Donatella in a way that respects the intelligence of the reader.” of information over months and years.