DA, thanks for your comment, I appreciate you and your thoughts over at Poisonous Paragraphs, which I definitely perused from time to time..

I completely agree with your thoughts of course, and it only helps illustrate that GlobalGrind must be aware by now of those calling them out on these various issues, yet they have continued to blindly do what they do.

Meaning they are OK with it.

Thus, your last sentence is probably correct, and at best, GG will eventually go the way of all of these idiotic blogs and useless aggregation sites when (hopefully) the online information landscape evolves a step above the irresponsible free-for-all it is now.

See… This is why I love this publication. No tongue holding, no bullshit. Simply raw realism. Thanks for bringing it out in true format. That is the one truly wonderful thing about this country. U can say what the hell you want to. The truth needs to be exposed. That, to me, is the true reason for mass media in the first place. From my perspective you don’t sound bitter. It denotes passion. You’ve work hard to be who you are and to know as much as you do. You are a hell of a writer. There is nothing wrong with YOU honoring that. You didn’t come off as snobbish but as an expert in your craft. We are often taught to big up other people’s credentials but to keep our own humble. Fuck that! This is why I post your stuff up on Twitter and Facebook. I am a true fan of your work bro. Slamantha and I may know some of your background but new readers may not. As an emcee, I know all about braggadocio and people overdosing on what they know. I think you gave a little insight into your history and that helped to fortify your argument. It wasn’t like you laid out your resume with links and ego stroking commentary.

Bring it man. keep that eloquently gritty truth flowing. You are an asset in more ways than you know Mr. Faces.

Gripes or Love?
Bring it to me!
-Tah Phrum Duh Bush

Unfortunately, I feel GlobalGrind is too far gone for anyone to reform it or right the ship.

One.

@ Slamantha – I appreciate your comment, and correction re: Datwon. I certainly didn’t mean to come off as bitter, rather the opposite… I was trying to demonstrate that my knowledge on the subject shows that I’m not just being blindly speculative. But again, I appreciate how it may come across, I perhaps subconsciously infused a bit more pride into the piece than I should have.

Thanks for the mentions and praise. I really appreciate it and I appreciated your support on that issue.

This is an interesting, well-written post and I enjoyed reading it. I agree with what you say, regarding the content of the site. It is something I feel, as well. As I read your post, wrote this comment, and thought about it carefully, I realized there were three different points to make regarding their content. And all of them point to the type of publication they are.

First, the lack of editorial responsibility, which you pointed out and I agree with. The coverage of Ms. Villegas, that you highlighted, is an example of that. Respected publications don’t do that sort of thing. Villegas and Bieber can do what they want, but to have an adult male imply that they should engage in intimate relations (how’s that for a description?) makes me a littl uncomfortable. As an aside, author that you mention is the same person who attacked me on Twitter, over my article, said that it included lies and that those that agreed with me were haters.

Second, as you point out, the site isn’t so much about hip-hop as it is about celebrity news in general. If I look at the 21 stories on the homepage (minus the celebrity bloggers), I count 9 that are at least in some notable way related to hip-hop or hip-hop artists. And that includes stories like Rihanna wearing a sexy dress, who Kanye is dating, etc. So, it’s not a hip-hop focused site. It is a general celebrity site with a bit of a hip-hop slant.

Third, again as you point out, is their coverage of what some would call gossip-type stories. When I wrote that initial article about the scraping, I contemplated adding the gossip angle to it and breaking down the top stories on the site. But, I edited that part out because it wasn’t the main point of my article and I didn’t want to sidetrack people.

TMZ, gossip site as they are, they actually do some reporting, break stories, cite court documents, have editorial consistency, etc. They often mention their sources, talk to official representatives and do things that journalists do. I can’t really take much issue with them like I can, say, MediaTakeOut.

What kills me about Global Grind is that Mr. Simmons has (rightfully, in my book) railed on gossip sites like MTO, that do not seem to take their platform with a sense of responsibility. I agree with him. It bothers me. And, like you, despite all of the stuff people said about him when I covered the story, I’ve always respected Mr. Simmons.

But, does he not see that Global Grind is playing into the hands of this type of media – encouraging it, stimulating it and profiting from it? I mentioned it to him on Twitter, respectfully, but didn’t receive a reply (no surprise, I’m sure he gets too many to deal with). If Global Grind wanted to take a stand on this and generally stick to stories with substance, they could. But, they don’t. And so, it confuses me, especially his involvement with it because he has a chance to improve the quality of what is out there.

I mean, the celebrity blogs don’t bother me (I’d welcome “celebrities” to blog for me under the right circumstances), but as I look at their 6 feature stories right now, plus the top 4 under “Latest on Global Grind,” here’s what I see:

“**BREAKING NEWS** Lyfe Jennings Is Going To Jail”
“10 Cute Celebrities With Their Legs Closed [PHOTOS]” (Heh)
“Oh No! Katy Perry Gets DROPPED!”
“Cory Booker Gets A New $100 Million Friend”
“EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW of Running Russell Simmons”
“Paris and Snoop are BFFs??”
“Rihanna Puts on a Sexy Dress for Matt Kemp (PHOTOS)”
“Kanye West and Selita Ebanks Out Again (PHOTOS)”
“UGG Australia x Jimmy Choo Limited Edition Collection (PHOTOS)”
“Demi Lovato Lost Respect For A “Jealous Jonas” (PHOTOS)”

Put those three factors together and you have Global Grind.

Thanks,

Patrick