[That Phat Hat]

The Smoking Gun posted a pretty amazing investigative piece on a bunch of prank callers who have been causing serious damage to hotels and fast food restaurants around the US, and even managed to get a hotel clerk to sip a guest's urine:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive...pranknet1.html

It's a pretty amazing story on its own, and it'll be a great day when these sadistic sociopaths get what's coming to them. But beyond that, there's a bigger story about the potential for internet journalism. Buried in the middle of the first page:

But a seven-week investigation by The Smoking Gun...

I'm pretty sure I can count the number of newspapers in the entire U.S. that can afford to do a seven-week investigation with one hand. Shit, the Baltimore Sun can't even do basic school paper-level reporting on juicy local stories. But the Smoking Gun can, because it's a lean operation that invests resources on what it's good at (John Gruber made a great point about how political sites don't need to set up paywalls, and are in fact growing, because most of their money is in editorial, not operations).

And you know what happens when a Sports Illustrated writer wants to do be embedded with the Los Angeles Galaxy to cover one of the biggest sports business stories of this decade? He doesn't do it as a senior writer of the biggest sports magazine in the country. No, he takes a leave of absence and lives off the advance from the publisher.

There's clearly money to be spent on great, in-depth coverage. It's just that the money isn't with the newspapers and magazines. Print media isn't dying because of any inherent flaws, or because of their content. It's dying because it refuses to cut the fat. But it makes me happy to know that a site like TSG can devote 7 weeks to cover something that the mainstream media had *no* clue about.

The flipside though, is that the article won't be the highest trafficked content on TSG. It'll be beat out by the next big celebrity mugshot or a divorce filing. Which is to say, this great investigative piece that does great good for society was financed by content that appeals to people's basest, voyeuristic instincts. Which, I think is fine. That's a business model I can get behind.

[dredgfan]

I hope that guy gets busted for real, and his punishment is an actual job. how can one be with no job, no girl, on the internet and xbox, stealing wifi and have the gall to say people with jobs are simpletons. Then he complains about tough living. My ass.

[That Phat Hat]

Originally Posted by dredgfan

I hope that guy gets busted for real, and his punishment is an actual job. how can one be with no job, no girl, on the internet and xbox, stealing wifi and have the gall to say people with jobs are simpletons. Then he complains about tough living. My ass.

I'm guessing, based on my utterly unprofessional opinion, that Malik is a sociopath and he just can't be helped. Regardless, you can tell a lot about the guy's character by the people he chooses to victimize.

[roadkit]

Originally Posted by The Smoking Gun

Malik has told online acquaintances that his father, a plumber, died about a decade ago, and that money is frequently in short supply.

Money is in short supply because you won't go out and get a job you limp-wristed piece of shit.