bookofjoe's foolproof test to distinguish old media from new

It hit me the other day when I watched Amanda Congdon's first broadcast for ABCNews.com.

With old media, first you have to take your medicine — i.e., I had to twiddle my thumbs while some made-for-TV-type ad tried to sell me Folger's coffee.

When you watch a video on YouTube there's nothing standing between you and your movie — no medicine, no ad, nada, zilch, cipher, naught.

But ABCNews.com's trying to have it all: get money from advertisers for commercials and be hip.

No can do.

They're hamstringing Congdon the same way the New York Times delivered a lethal blow to its writers when they put up their Berlin Wall-virtual-equivalent Times Select, requiring you to pay to read content.

Again, trying to bridge the gap between old media and new but instead doomed to plunge into the abyss where so many have gone before.