Cute Puppies Will Save the Media

Riptide and his best friend both feel lucky to have snapped up gigs in the ever-dying media industry right out of college, especially considering the fate of some of our classmates. This comes with the added thrill that occasionally our respective companies get gossiped about on Gawker and, now, hot...

By Kyle Munzenrieder

December 15, 2008

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Riptide and his best friend both feel lucky to have snapped up gigs in the ever-dying media industry right out of college, especially considering the fate of some of our classmates. This comes with the added thrill that occasionally our respective companies get gossiped about on Gawker and, now, hot new Twitter feed "The Media Is Dying" (Village Voice Media has yet to make its TMID debut, which is good. My friend's company is all over that shit, but hey, she still has a job.)

Anyway, as my friend pointed out, it's not all bad. People magazine just launched PeoplePets.com! A site for celebrities and their pets! Yay, a brand-new media entity in this contracting industry! And then it hit me: The future of journalism is page-view-baiting pictures of cute puppies! Apparently that's not news to many local news outfits. After the jump, let's review the front pages of local media websites.

Local 10's recently renamed website, JustNews.com, has a collection of slide shows called "South Florida's Furry Friends" linked on the front page.
The top video story on CBS4 right now? Barney cam! A live feed of President Bush's dog.
CBS4 also has suggestions for which hypoallergenic dog Barack Obama should adopt.
The Sun-Sentinel is running a promotion called "The Battle of the Breeds."
NBC6 has this collection of pet pics linked on the front page.
And the station just had a "Cutest Kitten" contest.
WSVN is lacking in this department but has a link to a put rescue site right on the front.

The only site without some sort of cute critter link on the main page: the Miami Herald. We suggest that if they want to find themselves a buyer, they switch immediately to an all-cute-animals-all-the-time web format.

Full disclosure: The homepage of Miami New Times currently links to Magic City Kitty, but that is an entirely different breed of puss.

-- Kyle Munzenrieder

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