LEO Weekly’s Phillip Bailey has a big feature on the demise of Mojo:
In accepting the new position, Redding left his post as chief blogger at The ‘Ville Voice, a successful local blog that operates in conjunction with the popular Page One Kentucky.
“I’m going to be covering a lot of the same stuff I’ve been covering before,” Redding told LEO at the time. “Basically, (I’ll be covering) what the people who have followed me at The ’Ville Voice have come to expect, know and like. Obviously, I think that they were reading it because of me.”
Although readers appeared to follow Redding to Mojo, advertisers did not. Meanwhile, longtime Mojo advertisers were not happy with the site’s shift to news, believing the social-networking vibe was a better fit.
Just want to say that not only did advertisers not follow, more came to The ‘Ville Voice. And our readership grew quite a bit. So obviously it had nothing to do with who was writing. I’m not saying it’s a result of the departure, but I am saying they weren’t interested in leaving – despite the critics who attacked me non-stop.
And here is where Redding is a bit mistaken:
“The successful models aren’t one-man shows, and no one has put together a bunch of competent writers for an online venture,” says Redding. “And I think if you have a pure news and information website, that would be supported by advertisers. It comes down to whether you have a product advertisers will buy into.”
Unfortunately… for what he suggested, I have built a successful model. Clearly advertisers buy into it. As do investors and others from all walks of political and media life. Things have grown exponentially since September 2009. More than I could ever have expected. While I often don’t toot my own horn, I obviously take this seriously and work all waking hours of every day I possibly can. I believe that hard work pays off.
And Ed Manassah, disconnected from media as he is, is partially right:
“The online (source) does a great job of supplementing and real-time distribution, but to create a simple model that says everything’s online, I don’t think we’re there as a consumer of media,” says Ed Manassah, executive director of the Institute for Media, Culture and Ethics at Bellarmine University. “For instance, Page One does a good job of exploring a lot of things, but I don’t know if that can be your main diet of news and information,” adds Manassah, former publisher of The Courier-Journal. “It’s not broad-based enough to where if you read that you’d be satisfied.”
Page One can’t be everything because I don’t want it to be everything. That’d be silly. It would distract from the little bits of information I am good at getting right.
I haven’t criticized Rick in all these months and won’t do so, despite all the shiz that has gone down. So critics need to get over it– especially reporters who continue to tell me that I’m trashed 24/7. I won’t be trashing him (you know I could). I am fortunate and know that. I am grateful for what I have. Let’s be honest… if I was in the wrong? I wouldn’t have ended up owning the majority (despite previously owning a minority) of a company that continues to see success despite serious economic woes.
All this said? I won’t be going anywhere. Expansion is coming. Operations will be improving. A lot is occurring that I can’t yet discuss. And actually, I’ll be asking for reader input over the coming months to determine exactly what you want out of these sites.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Talkfan // Apr 14, 2010 at 5:10 pm
I enjoy Page One and Ville Voice very much and I respect and appreciate the job you do. Always have (even if it gets a little juvenile sometimes).
Having said that, the blogs were better when Redding was writing here. I don’t know what went on behind the scenes, but I was very sorry to see him go and jmho would like to see him return. I always kind of got the vibe that the parting wasn’t exactly amicable, so maybe his return is a non-starter. On the other hand, you always had that link to his work on Mojo up there, so…maybe the bridge is charred but not burned.
Either way, I’ll be reading every day. But his voice here has been missed, at least by me.
2 Blowin' in the wind // Apr 14, 2010 at 5:30 pm
One of the tough things we all have to learn in life is that things go on without us, no matter how good a contribution we may have made. Jake has done a great job maintaining and growing the sites…just think of how many things would still be under the rug of it weren’t for his work. We wouldn’t be able to cross the room without falling! Rick simply has to find the right place for him…and trust me, going home is not usually the best idea.
3 KYGuy // Apr 14, 2010 at 5:56 pm
Jake, Congrats on keeping it going and on your planned expansion. Having you write both sites has been a little strange. Redding’s style was so different it brought a different vibe. The two sites once complimented one another, now they often mirror. But, whatever…keep doing your thang. It seems to work.
4 A Curious Guy // Apr 14, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Isn’t that funny?
Ed Manassah criticizing a specialized reporting/publishing effort that seems to be succeeding!
As I recall, the C-J took a mighty slide downward on his watch.
But what’s equally amusing is that Manessah is even making comparisons to the once-great C-J!
THAT alone speaks volumes about the Ville Voice!
5 Crutnacker // Apr 14, 2010 at 8:08 pm
I would echo that I enjoyed Redding’s work, but I haven’t seen Page or Ville suffer much in his departure, and I was thoroughly unimpressed with Mojo, primarily because of its interface. I come here because it is simple, I can find everything for the day easily, comments are simple to make, and I find some interesting links to things I wouldn’t find on my own. I wish Rick well, and I don’t know the circumstances of his departure, but I think the failure of the Mojo venture had more to do with the branding of Mojo and its interface than anything else.
6 Crutnacker // Apr 14, 2010 at 8:09 pm
I’d also add that many of the mojo writers didn’t seem to grasp the blog format like Jake has (or Rick, for that matter).
7 Nsquare // Apr 15, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Jake: I love this site an visit at least once a day. Keep up with the media criticism – and the reporting done like the “main stream” media never does.
8 Carter Burger // Apr 15, 2010 at 3:41 pm
One of the first members of mojo, I have seen it’s decline before Rick bolted. Them hiring him over there shows me they saw it too. Lots of friends I had there have left for Facebook. I suppose that was the reason for folks leaving for sites like Facebook. Too bad it didn’t work, and Jake, keep on keeping on. Be the leader!
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