Twitter feuds between media rivals are fairly common. But a particulalry nasty war of words between Jacob Weisberg, editor-in-chief of the Slate Group (right), and Jeff Jarvis, Buzz Machine blogger and journalism professor (left), is currently exploding on Twitter.
The latest spat apparently started when Weisberg tweeted a link to a Mediaweek post surveying various media pundits — including Jarvis — on the future of the New York Times magazine. Here was Jarvis' comment:
Ask me whether I care. I don’t pick up the magazine. I’d put the reporting where it belongs — in the paper — and let the fluffy specialty magazines with good endemic ad categories take over. Or, turn it into a curation of great content of the week from the Web.
And here’s Weisberg’s tweet:
Amazing that @jeffjarvis, who has such contempt for journalism, is allowed to teach it. http://bit.ly/bioV4Q
Jarvis’ response:
@jacobwe Who died and made you journalism's guardian and king?
And it was on from there:
Jarvis: @jacobwe So by your logic, if I don't kill to read the NYT Mag, I have contempt for jouralism? I said the reporting should continue.
Jarvis: @jacobwe I'm merely following your (failed) business model of creating verticals to bring in revenue.
Jarvis: @jacobwe Here, Jacob, is my full response to MediaWeek. I see no contempt here. I see only yours: http://bit.ly/bg5sCe
Weisberg: Hey, @jeffjarvis, are you done yet? It's a challenge to windbag in 140 characters, but you rise to it.
Jarvis: @jacobwe So you've now added no substance to this discussion, only insult. You are hereby anointed King Troll.
Weisberg: Bear-baiting is illegal, but @jeffjarvis baiting remains good sport. Here's the best of it http://slate.me/aidG6V
Jarvis claims Weisberg is still smarting over a 2008 blog post in which Jarvis wrote, “F— Slate”:
I never liked Slate. And now I like them less. They have a flack send me email bragging that they’ve started a Hillary death watch. F— Slate. Wearing your Obama button, Jake?
Jarvis: Here, friends, is why @jacobwe is having snitfits still: http://bit.ly/cJsXrK He's a bitter little man.
