DougJ seems to have won the lottery in the talent department!
Fun and interesting blogger. Great interviewer with a great voice. (I have been known to nudge DougJ to do regular audio interviews for us on Balloon Juice; hopefully one of these days he’ll have enough time to do it.) Great twitter game.
As NYT Pitchbot, he seems to have found exactly the right canvas for his genius at mocking the NYT in 280 words or less.
So it’s no surprise that DougJ was recently interviewed by the Columbia Journalism Review as NYT Pitchbot. I find it amusing that in an article that talks about mockery of NYT headlines… that they chose such a lame title, since NYT Pitchbot isn’t a bot at all! (Apologies, DougJ, if you liked the headline, or worse, if you chose it!)
Excerpts from the article:
A FEW WEEKS AGO, the person behind the New York Times Pitchbot—not a bot at all, but a Twitter account whose posts satirize New York Times headlines and articles—was at his home, in Rochester, New York, doing laundry with one hand while tapping out, with the other, one of his most frequent refrains on Twitter: “Dems in Disarray.”
…
Though his subject matter might suggest otherwise, NYT Pitchbot does not work in media or politics. He is a fifty-two-year-old math professor and father of two who describes himself as a “committed Democrat” of the “slightly hardcore left.” He is anonymous on Twitter, and asked to remain so for this story, citing personal and professional concerns. (CJR contacted him via email and spoke with him on the phone, verifying his association with the Twitter account over direct message. He shared his real identity with CJR, which we verified with two other sources.)NYT Pitchbot began his sideline in online political commentary in the early 2000s, posting anonymous comments on blogs, focusing much of his energy on one called Balloon Juice (i.e., hot air). Under the alias Doug J, he mounted ironic defenses of George W. Bush to “let off some steam” and provoke the blog’s founder, John Cole, a conservative undergoing a liberal transformation.
“Trolling is what you would call it, but it wasn’t malicious,” says Cole. “It was basically pointing out that what I was saying was stupid—taking things to their logical extremes.” Doug J, Cole says, was a “crowd favorite.” So in 2009, Cole asked him to start writing posts for Balloon Juice directly.
Early contributions included criticism of Times columnist Thomas Friedman (“writes entire columns about the wonders of free trade…without citing a single figure”) and earnest admiration for Glenn Greenwald, now NYT Pitchbot’s bête noire. (“What really gets me is this combination of nihilism and stupidity,” says NYT Pitchbot, citing Chris Cillizza as another offender.) Around the same time, Pitchbot says, he was banned from the New York Times’ online comment section, for a disparaging remark submitted on the launch of “The Conversation,” a column-in-dialogues by David Brooks and Gail Collins.
…
Doug J still occasionally posts on Balloon Juice, where he also raises money for liberal causes and Democratic candidates. (Through the online donation platform ActBlue, he’s brought in more than $2.8 million to date.) He joined Twitter in 2009, taking @dougjballoon as his handle, but didn’t start tweeting regularly until four years ago, when his first child was born. With kids and full-time teaching, it was easier to tweet than blog, he said.
…
In 2019, @DougJBalloon changed his name on Twitter to New York Times Pitchbot, committing to a new bit. He was encouraged by a conservative journalist friend and inspired by other “pitchbot” accounts, particularly one, now retired, that satirized The Federalist, a conservative online publication. “It’s a tricky thing, because The Federalist is so insane. How do you parody it?” he says. “What I think is more interesting is just how much of that same kind of stupidity is embedded in ostensibly left-center establishment journalism.”With his account, NYT Pitchbot imagines the Times formula for stories as a kind of wheezing algorithm, a bot churning out contrarian headlines and half-baked hot takes. “I was a lifelong liberal Democrat,” begins one mock pitch for the Times opinion section. “Then reproductive rights activists held a vigil in front of Brett Kavanaugh’s house.” Another: “Ukrainians Have Sunk the Russian Warship Moskva. Here’s why that’s bad news for Joe Biden.” (Like “Dems in Disarray,” “Bad News for Biden” is something of a catchphrase for the account.)
NYT Pitchbot is a lifelong Times reader and a current digital subscriber. “Obviously, I think the New York Times does fantastic journalism,” he says. Still: “I’ve always had a lot of issues with how the media handles national politics. Like, I really thought that what went on around the Iraq War was insane.” He finds the Times’ framing of political coverage grating, and criticizes its opinion section as contrarian, focused on “concern-trolling liberals”—engaging in disingenuous criticism. “There’s this obsession the Times has with attacking other liberals,” he says. Beyond an attempt at balance, “I think part of it is that’s the ecosystem that they live in, and they find the people around them irritating.”
NYT Pitchbot’s first viral tweet came in March 2020, as covid lockdowns began. (“Sources close to Jared and Ivanka said that privately the couple opposes the pandemic.”) The tweet—a dig at the Times reporter Maggie Haberman and her coverage of the couple—gained NYT Pitchbot thousands of followers overnight. To date, the account’s most popular tweet was during the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. (“We wanted to understand what’s happening in Afghanistan. So we talked to three unvaccinated Trump supporters at an Arby’s in Harrisburg.”) But the author’s favorite pitches are more baroque, combining several jokes. (“Times have been tough in this Ohio town ever since the woke mob shut down the old ivermectin factory.”)
The account has made a particular hobby of mocking the Times’ obsession with man-on-the-street style interviews at Rust Belt diners. (“Nearly 90 percent of people admitted to hospitals due to Covid are unvaccinated. But in this Ohio diner, nearly 90 percent of unvaccinated diners don’t believe that matters.”) Those jokes are intended to sting not the interview subjects, but rather the Times reporters who conduct the interviews. These are stories written with a note of condescension that presume a wealthy, urban reader. “They fly in, they look for people to say stupid things, and they leave,” says NYT Pitchbot. “I think it’s kind of dehumanizing.” (By frequently focusing on white people, he adds, these articles reinforce the false idea of an exclusively white working class.) The Pitchbot account currently links to an online shop where supporters can order a T-shirt, mug, or onesie printed with in this ohio diner… So far, two hundred items have been sold…
The Monkeypox Scare: Recommended Reading
Baud
jeffreyw
..and to think I knew DougJ when he was just ‘this’ tall.
debbie
Pity he can’t rest on his laurels. More and more people are trying to outdo him.
SiubhanDuinne
I said in the thread downstairs what a vicarious thrill it is to read something — in a prestigious and respected publication, yet! — about someone you “know.” Very proud to participate in the same blog :-)
Baud
______
I think part of it is that’s the ecosystem that they live in, and they find the people around them irritating.”
______
Too long for the rotating tag?
Benw
My friends at the diner and I were lifelong committed Democrats, but DougJ’s sarcastic jokes about the NYT have us considering voting for Trump in 2024.
Kristine
This blog is a special place, and I think that is slowly being recognized by those outside the jackalariat.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Doug is brilliant. I’m honored to have been an unwitting duo with him back in the aughts when we would both bombard WaPo political “reporters” of the day with clever questions in their chat sessions. The results were always predictable. Lois Romano and Jim Effing Vandehei were favorite targets.
geg6
I love this so much.
WaterGirl
I hope someone gets the Mary Tyler Moore reference in the photo.
Kay
DougJ should get credit for recognizing the “woke panic” ahead of everyone else.
He was making jokes about the existential threat posed by the Oberlin student council a full year before there were 500 substacks about the existential threat posed by the Oberlin student council. Knew exactly where this was headed.
Kay
New York Times Pitchbot
@DougJBalloon
·
14h
If Democrats can’t stop liberal college students from talking about “white fragility”, then I have no choice but to vote Republican in November.
Kay
The woke panic IS funny, too.
My youngest, a 19 year old liberal college student, doesn’t read DougJ but I can say to him “I assume you’re majoring in critical race theory?” and he knows exactly what I’m doing and laughs.
JWR
‘@Watergirl “the Mary Tyler Moore reference”
Okay, I give up. What *is* the MTM reference? (Something to do with the opening lyrics, maybe?)
WaterGirl
‘@JWR
She’s in New York City. She’s throwing her hat in the air. The song is all about how “you’re gonna make it after all”.
Old School
‘@ WaterGirl
RE: MTM
Is it because DougJ made it after all?
SiubhanDuinne
‘@WG: I assume it’s a reference to “You’re gonna make it (You’ve gone and made it) after all!” If it’s something more specific or esoteric, then I haven’t a clue.
SiubhanDuinne
‘@WG: <>
Or Tucson. Chattanooga. Minneapolis. Whatever.
Old School
‘@ WaterGirl – She’s in Minneapolis, but since the 70s ended a while ago, I won’t hold that against you.
Kay
DougJ is funny but the NYTimes political team really are terrible:
Shane Goldmacher
@ShaneGoldmacher
·
From PA to GA, the greatest hope for Democrats appears to be potential
Republican acts of self-sabotage.
I made the mistake of reading their real time coverage of the Ohio primaries and they have called both the Ohio senate and governors races for the Republicans before a single general election vote has been cast.
I sort of get them calling them senate race- they obviously love JD Vance- but the governor’s race? Couldn’t they wait on that one? At least let the Democrat try to campaign? No “coverage” of her at all – just a team analysis of how she has already lost. What did Nan Whaley do to deserve this shoddy treatment? Can she TRY to be governor or is that disallowed?
SiubhanDuinne
‘@WG: //She’s in New York City.//
Or Tucson. Chattanooga. Minneapolis. Whatever.
piratedan
‘@ WG
I believe that the show was centered in Minneapolis, and the theme is about how a single divorced lady can go out and make a career for herself.
sorry for the pedantic follow up
cain
Back in the day, DougJ used change nicks to get people riled up – some could detect who it was – it was just a lot of sardonic fun between commentators. Loved it.
It’s great he’s taking that show on the road – and I certainly have had fun with some of the hot takes that DougJ has said on here.
No doubt some of those people who did that interview have landed here to lurk. :-)
Also, after a week, it seems like forever since I’ve seen any of you – nice to be here. :-)
brendancalling
My dad loves the NYT, including the op-ed section, although I finally got him to subscribe to the WaPo as well. He admits the NYT has some problems though, and I hope he enjoys the article.
Good job, DougJ!
Montanareddog
The article mentioned Doug has a Pitchbot webshop. I clicked on the link in his Twatter profile (http://nytpitchbot.shop/cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi) and got an error.
Did he host his webshop on 356 (and counting down) data centers?
piratedan
‘@ Kay
isn’t that amazing…. everything that the GOP stands for polls horrifically, economically, foreign policy, women’s rights, LBGTQ, abortion, yet here they are astride great victories in the media before a single ballot is cast.
spit…. and this is after JD Vance won with what… less than 40% of GOP primary ballots?
talk about creating your own reality….
scav
This is disastrously close to being cool — certainly cool-adjacent. I have simply no idea how to cope with either.
Congrats to the bot!
Mousebumples
‘@PirateDan – I’m actually in the middle of watching MTM, and I don’t believe she was ever married (eg not divorced). She has been engaged, however.
Roger Moore
I think this is actually his greatest triumph. He’s succeeded in waking people up to how bad the NYT editorial staff are, so that plenty of people see those headlines and immediately start seeing them as targets for satire rather than serious descriptions of what’s happening.
Kay
piratedan May 23, 2022 at 12:39 PM
@ Kay
isn’t that amazing…. everything that the GOP stands for polls horrifically, economically, foreign policy, women’s rights, LBGTQ, abortion, yet here they are astride great victories in the media before a single ballot is cast.
I mean, Vance is the favorite in a Trump +8 state, but this was supposed to be coverage of the primary. I was a little taken aback when they called the general.
And the state race! No analysis of DeWine (the incumbent) at all let alone Whaley who is a perfectly credible serious challenger. It’s just awful.
I get that they’re ultra savy but I live here and I’m not that confident I can predict with such certainty. They sent someone to Youngstown for 3 days and that’s enough? Whaley should just pack it in?
They should just back off. They’re probably right- it probably is a bad year for Democrats in Ohio but couldn’t they wait for Ohio voters to weigh in?
Why not just do straight coverage of the primary? Why set up this whole narrative that then has to be served?
JWR
WaterGirl: “you’re gonna make it after all”.
Me: Doh! And on a thread devoted to DougJ’s ascension! Again, doh!
TaMara
‘@Mousebumples – she was supposed to be divorced, but they nixed it because they were afraid everyone would think she’d gotten divorced from Rob Petrie and we couldn’t have that. LOL
WaterGirl
‘@JWR
Yes!
CaseyL
I can now say, I knew DougJ back when… in 2005-ish, I was new to Balloon Juice, certainly new to DougJ, and 95% sure he was trolling, but that last 5% lured me into tearing into him when he said something about (IIRC) how much better things were in the 18th Century.
I’m so pleased DougJ is getting “more and more recognized all the time.” Heh.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
A math professor, no wonder DougJ doesn’t understand Very Serious Journalism and mistakes it for unintentional self parody from a pack of very well breed medicoraties.
Soprano2
‘@ Kay; Plus, they surely have to realize that this kind of coverage has a certain amount of influence. If the NY Times says these races are hopeless, I can see voters staying at home because they buy into that framing, which then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. They can certainly say that in a TFG +8 state that the Republicans are favored to win, but saying it’s already over and the Republican is going to win isn’t their job, and they shouldn’t be saying that.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Dammit to hell, I hate seeing TV from my prime TV watching youth get misstated.
MTM was never divorced, and had moved from some straioght-out-of-college really tiny cowtown market to Minneapolis.
Gavin MacLeod, Ted Knight, Ed Asner and Cloris Leachman were instrumental in making that show what it was.
It also produced one of the funniest episodes of all early 70s sitcoms – the death of Chuckles the Clown – if you can find it on YouTube, it is a treasure.
Scout211
‘@ Montanareddog May 23, 2022 at 12:39 PM
Maybe he moved it. Try this.
https://stores.inksoft.com/nytpitchbot/shop/home
Soprano2
Knowing DougJ from here is kind of like how I “knew” Digby way back in 1999, when we were both posting on the Brill’s Content message boards. That was quite a place to post early on; it’s where I learned to argue with right wingers during the Clinton impeachment. We posted together on a semi-private EZ Board for awhile, before she started her blog. I’m ashamed to say I thought Digby was a man; even on the private board we didn’t know if she was a man or a woman.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
And on-topic, my suspicion is that his professorial feeder is Jay Rosen.
O. Felix Culpa
Erm, WRT MTM, the show was set in Minneapolis and about a woman, so not much connection to DougJ at all.
And congrats to DougJ, who is (deservedly) getting noticed more and more!
WaterGirl
‘@O. Felix Culpa
It’s the “you’re gonna make it after all” part. Maybe you missed that?
JAFD
For those who seek additional reading material this Monday:
I’ve mentioned Doug Muder’s ‘weekly commentary on the news blog’ before, and would strongly recommend today’s piece,
https://weeklysift.com/2022/05/23/a-reluctant-defense-of-bill-cassidy
Kropacetic
‘@Mousebumples
ON MTM, it was a broken engagement. They discussed it in the first episode and her former fiance showed up one episode the first season. I would never have remembered this from years of watching MTM reruns as a kid on Nick-At-Nite, thank god for Hulu.
guachi
It’s really surprising how often DougJ predicts future headlines.
He has NYT/Substack writers down to a ‘T’.
MazeDancer
May Doug get all the credit for pioneering an art form.
And many more followers.
As discussed on Twitter as the news broke, why won’t CJR link to BJ? Rather than just italicizing the name twice? It’s like if it ain’t print, ya gotta look it up yourself?
(Though probably just as well, given our current condition.)
And, in the interest of up-to-date journalism, think they could have expanded on defining John Cole beyond his transformative years.
O. Felix Culpa
‘@WG Nope, didn’t miss. Just doesn’t fit particularly well IMO, and I get to have one, especially since you asked. ;-)
skerry
‘@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Don’t forget Betty White’s contribution. I loved Sue Ann.
Dorothy A Winsor
I question the extent to which this article protects Doug’s identity. A 52 year old math prof in Rochester with 2 kids. His colleagues are all going to know who that is.
Old School
‘@ Dorothy A Winsor
And presumably named Doug J.
Mike E
I particularly enjoy when his pitchbot prophecies come true, though oftentimes it’s more like shooting fish in a barrel than pulling a Nostradamus tbh
oldster
Congratulations, DougJ!
I feel famous though mere proximity.
Eyeroller
With respect to the protection of Doug J’s identity, I am pretty sure I doxxed him in about five minutes with the relatively small amount of personal information (city, profession, age, two small children) disclosed. I would not name the suspect even if I were certain of the identity, but somebody more motivated would probably do so. If it’s who I’ve identified then he is smart enough not to use any part of his real name. The point is that one should be very careful about what personal information is made public if one wishes to be anonymous.
DougJ
Thanks everybody! I fixed the link to the merchandise shop. Thank you for catching that
DougJ
I don’t think I’m that easy to identify based on the info. There are professors from at least five different reasonably sized schools living in the area here. But I’m also mostly just interested in not having my students know I’m doing this because there really are a decent proportion of them that are in the Greenwald/Bruenig camp.