News You Could Do Without

News You Could Do Without

by Mike Masnick




Is It Newsworthy That People Shopped Online For Holiday Gifts?

from the shocking dept

Yes, I realize that this is a very slow news week, but it never fails to amaze me that every single year, we see press reports breathlessly claiming that internet sales went up over the holidays. Isn't that like saying "lunch sales increased around noon today?" The specifics may be interesting. How much sales increased and in what areas, but simply saying that they increased seems like the type of article a vacationing reporter could have handed in well before they took off for the holidays.

9 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

Reader Comments

(Flattened / Threaded)

    Dec 30th, 2005 @ 10:36am
  • No Subject Given

    Investigative reporting is all but dead in the mainstream media. They would rather write articles about internet shopping and the death of or attack on Christmas.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Dec 30th, 2005 @ 10:56am
  • Newsworthy?

    What I love about this is the irony... Posting a news post about the lack of newsworthiness of a news post. :D

    Actually... I like to hear which sales went up (what people bought more of) and what went down (what people bought less of), as I find it interesting to see how psycho people were for certain trendy things.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Dec 30th, 2005 @ 11:16am
  • No Subject Given

    by Rikko

    Speaking of which, I'm off to join the screaming mob to try and get some lunch... Just that time of year I guess.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Dec 30th, 2005 @ 11:41am
  • No Subject Given

    by Anonymous Coward

    Is an article about something being newsworthy really newsworthy?

    Well... I'm fucking confused now thanks!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • Dec 30th, 2005 @ 12:02pm
    • Re: No Subject Given

      Is an article about something being newsworthy really newsworthy?

      Heh. I knew that might come up. But, part of what we cover here is media criticism for how the media covers the tech industry -- so it seemed relevant.

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    Dec 30th, 2005 @ 11:42am
  • No Subject Given

    by haggie

    The rampant consumerism of the United States, specially around the Christmas holiday, creates an almost unending stream of vomit and bile in me. What a country! What values! What pride! What respect! Now get the fuck out of my way so I can grab the last $10 DVD player. The founding fathers are spinning in their graves.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • Dec 30th, 2005 @ 5:52pm
    • Re: No Subject Given

      Rampant consumerism of the United States? How about Europe? Australia? Japan? Canada? Or just about every so-called western civilization. The founding fathers are smiling in their graves.

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    Dec 30th, 2005 @ 11:50am
  • Wrong article?

    The article linked has specific numbers littered throughout the article, including estimates of total and percent increase over last year's online sales (18.1 million, +25% according to one, 30.1 million, +30% to another). There are quotes from ComScore, Walmart, Sloan Center for Internet Retailing, L. L. Bean, Piper Jaffray and even joe average. There are many ideas presented on why revenues went up.
    Sure, there are fluff articles out there, but this doesn't seem to be one of those once you get past the headline.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Dec 30th, 2005 @ 5:05pm
  • No

    by Bob

    No, it's not newsworthy.

    It's not even worthy enough to be on this blog.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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