NEW YORK — The provocative ads, splashed on bus stops in Manhattan and in magazines, reflect a media world in turmoil: "No dot-com schmuck is going to tell me how to run my studio," declares a middle-aged business executive, identified as a soon-to-be "retired" movie mogul.
Brash and brainy, the campaign for Inside.com, an ambitious media Web site that formally launches this week, warns that the worlds of film, television, books, print media and the Internet are rapidly converging, and that this is a perilous moment for those working in them. But it's also a perilous economic moment for media-related Web sites such as Inside.
Last week, there was heavy carnage among such online firms, and some Internet experts, while praising Inside's philosophy, question whether it will collapse on the same shifting sands. Citing financial shortfalls, Salon, a respected online magazine, cut 13 employees; APBNews.com, an award-winning criminal justice news Web site, was forced to close and lay off 140 reporters. Newswatch.org, a public interest media criticism site, also ceased operations.
Still, amid the dot-com setbacks and the babble of competitors covering the media and entertainment worlds, Inside's backers sound unfazed. "This is a very bewildering and anxious time for the media," says Kurt Andersen, a former editor of Spy and New York Magazine and one of Inside's founders. "Our goal is to report information online about all these industries that you're not going to get anywhere else--both as they are now and as they evolve."
The fledgling Web site promises breaking news stories, elaborate databases for film, TV and publishing and eye-catching graphics, all designed to attract subscribers from America's sprawling media-entertainment complex. In its first few days, Inside has pumped out original stories about Hollywood agents, overnight TV ratings, the future of WebTV and regional book sales.
There are bells and whistles galore: A demographic study of CBS's "Survivor" by Nielsen Research indicates much of the audience is young and affluent. A daily Power Index, based on input from customers, rates America's top media moguls (Time Warner's Gerald Levin topped Monday's list). "Weekend Read" lists the magazine articles and unpublished books currently being sent to L.A.-based producers.
But will online customers pay $19.95 a month or $199 annually for this information? Although some of the stories and the links to other sites will remain free, readers will eventually have to pay for the bulk of Inside's data.
