Monday, July 19, 2010

"Did Rupert Murdoch Kill Beliefnet?"

Here is a story about the religious news portal - Beliefnet. Beliefnet has Gus DiZerega's A Pagan's Blog as part of their lineup.  In a column today, Michael Triplett at the Mediaite site extensively quotes Jason Pitzl-Waters of The Wild Hunt about beliefnet's problems:

"...Jason Pitzl-Waters, who is at the epicenter of the online Pagan community and has been critical of Beliefnet for failing to include Pagans, agreed.

The site itself, aside from a few of its blogs, was so watered down as to be completely uninteresting to those looking for something aside from bland platitudes and feel-good inspirational stories. As others have complained, the site seemed direction-less, purpose-less.

With blogs like “Our Lady of Weight Loss,” “The Queen of My Self,” and “Lessons from a Recovering Doormat,” the site has taken on a very Oprah-like presence.

“I think News Corp “blinked” on doing something about it, and were afraid to dismantle the successful newsletter programs and hits-generating “stories” like “Beach Quotes” or “21 Tips to Help A Grieving Friend” in order to point it in a new direction. Instead they just added more “stuff” and made the site more confusing,” Pitzl-Waters said."  ...(Cont.)...

The above is just one of many examples of Jason's influence, and I am happy to announce that I and other members of NCLC have arranged to have Jason as a guest at this year's Merrymeet to discuss Pagans and the media.  I believe his presentation will be extremely important and is not to be missed.

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