Journalism Is 'The Pretentious Part of the Ad Copywriter Role,' Says Nerd
Chris Tolles is the CEO of Topix, a robo-aggregator site that compiles hyperlocal news and "commentary," meaning internet comments from crazy people. In other words, Chris Tolles is self-evidently America's leading journalistic thinker. He tells Street Fight Mag:
Journalists never like to think of Groupon‘s ad copywriters as journalists, but really they are. As a Silicon Valley person, journalism is just writing copy. Journalism isn't a profession. Journalism is, in fact, merely the pretentious part of the ad copywriter role in some ways. Paying writers to write words - and when they're good they make more money - is kind of the name of the game here. And I think that Groupon is a better model for paying people because it's worth a lot more money than most of the hyperlocal sites at the moment.
Sorry, aspiring journalists: a "Silicon Valley person" thinks you're no different from advertising copywriters. Everyone knows that there's never been any journalism in Silicon Valley, anyhow.
Chris also helpfully points out that his current spending on journalists is "Like, zero," so there's no need to give a shit what he thinks about journalism.
