New Site Targets Chattering (and Now Tweeting) Classes

There's been lots of media chatter about Mediaite.com, the website Dan Abrams rolled out this morning, most of it sight-unseen, challenging the former MSNBC host's intention to continue to run a media strategy firm alongside the site. Howard Kurtz, one of those critics, now takes a look at the site, which offering a sassy, scandal-fueled take on print, TV, and the net. One prominent feature is a ranking of media types which may fuel vanity but be of questionable utility, Kurtz notes on finding that he is apparently more influential than Conan O'Brien.

Mediaite is run by a lean team of just five, and Abrams has stumped up all the cash for the launch. Its editor, Rachel Sklar, promises a "super-fun" approach to "where the media are going," with remunerated contributors alongside unpaid bloggers. Yet concerns about the site's impartiality remain, Kurtz says; Abrams has not disclosed his consultancy's clients, and media blogger Jeff Jarvis told him, "I'm sorry, but this smells."