TheWrap published my list of 25 media insiders to follow on Twitter on Monday. Perhaps not surprisingly, it’s generated a lot of feedback – with widely-varying reactions and plenty of criticism.
The most common critique I’ve gotten: Where are all the women? Second most common: Where are all the black people?
Of the 25 "insiders," I picked just four women and one African-American. Considering how harsh I was on Graydon Carter and Vanity Fair over their women in Hollywood issue (“Where Are Hollywood's Hot, Young Black Women?”) I can admit my mistake.
In my defense, I do think it’s more a symptom of the media industry’s lack of hiring women and African-Americans in positions of influence than my cobbling together a silly Twitter list. Also, the list wasn’t meant to be exhaustive or definitive. I was simply looking to highlight those whose tweets are important and timely to media industry people – not looking to fulfill gender or race quotas. (Maybe that’s part of the problem.)
Another critique that’s come up a few times today: What’s with all the Mediaite people on there? Fair point – I took four -- but they’re pretty prolific when it comes to tweeting. (Put another way: if Mediaite staffers chose not to update their Twitter feeds on a given business day, the industry would notice.)
Final criticism – and one I like: “Frankly, it was more of a blowjob than it was an article.” Well, all I can say is this. I was not intending to fellate any of the people on this list. I suppose any list that is positive may come off as a blowjob to those who didn’t make the cut.
In any event, here are 10 more media insiders – men, women, white, black and otherwise -- you should follow.
Lacey Rose
Media and entertainment writer, Forbes
@LaceyVRose
Why you should follow: Rose covers media and entertainment for Forbes, but many other media-centric verticals on Twitter.
Recent sample tweet: "20 minutes in and no mention of tiger's many (many, many) women. Guess that's what happens when you lock out the celebrity press."
If you do, be prepared for: Television industry shorthand. Lots of it.
Irin Carmon
Reporter, blogger, Jezebel
@irincarmon
Why you should follow: Carmon, a former star reporter at WWD, has made the move over to Jezebel where she can speak her mind, and let her unique voice shine.
Recent sample tweet: “Girls ruin everything. Including Playboy. http://bit.ly/aPRaOZ”
If you do, be prepared for: Tweets about international travel -- frequent enough to make you jealous.
Stephanie Clifford
Media reporter, New York Times
@stephcliff
Why you should follow: Along with David Carr and Brian Stelter, Clifford covers (and tweets diligently) about media.
Recent sample tweet: “Why the devil will be wearing a lot more Prada: Screenwriters now putting products in films ahead of actors, plots: nyti.ms/d4eDef”
