Thursday, January 5, 2012
Media Caleb Spivak of What Now Atlanta takes job as Atlantic Station's Social Media and Community Manager
Posted by Besha Rodell @BeshaRodell on Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 1:58 PM
- Dustin Chambers
- Caleb Spivak
Spivak, who we profile this week as part of our 20 People to Watch in 2012 package, says that he recently turned down a job as hospitality reporter for a local media outlet because they wanted him to give up his blog. The job at Atlantic Station had no such conflicts.
Speaking of conflicts, Spivak says he will not compromise his content for What Now Atlanta in any way, although he will be "more in the know" about things going on at Atlantic Station. He plans to stick to news only when covering Atlantic Station, and will fully disclose his relationship when writing about it on What Now Atlanta. He sees the two things - his job and his blog - as "completely separate."
And speaking of disclosures, I'm sitting in Atlantic Station right now because that's where CL's offices are.
Comments (22)
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'More in the know'? Know this: It's a big fat conflict of interest. Think we're going to get the same sassy take on happenings at Atlantic Station -- one of the largest retail sites in the city -- now that he's a flak for them? What Now Atlanta is an excellent site and Caleb's independence is one of the key ingredients to that. Or at least it was. It's disappointing that he doesn't see this as a big fat red flag.
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From his picture, it looks like he got some painful gas from Eats across Ponce.
According to his own site, three of his five Most Popular posts are about Atlantic Station. How's his new job not a conflict?
How will he report on WNA about Atlantic Station changing their parking charges while he's also managing the retail center's social media channels where he'll be expected to make those charges sound palatable?
I would not be to quick to judge the guy on his own personal choices. At least give him some time to prove he can do both.
Kudos to the new owners of Atlantic Station...they said they will re-engage the community and they are! This is just another step in the right direction!
Its to everyones best interest that Atlantic Station becomes cool and successful. We dont need another Underground ATL here.
I dont understand all these negative people bashing AS constantly, why not support the project and help the community???????
IF YOU CARE ABOUT MIDTOWN YOU SHOULD SUPPORT ATLANTIC STATION!!!
Caleb isn't an asshole. If you new him, you could judge him, but my guess is that you don't. I'm proud of you Caleb :)
I like Caleb's work, but share the skepticism about doing both jobs well.
Tell me how Dale Russell could be an investigative reporter plus serve in the Georgia House for one of the parties and still be credible in both roles. To me this is the same thing on a smaller scale.
AS has already had a strong social media presence; I'm also quite sure that AS needs a different tone online than Caleb's WNA personality.
I'm thinking the post should read as follows :
The Jayson Blair of Atlanta’s blogging scene is taking the next step towards becoming the president of the Mark Toro fan club. Caleb Spivak of blog What Now Atlanta accepted the position of gossip queen at Atlantic Station yesterday after turning down offers from both Greenbriar Mall and the Gallery at South DeKalb.
Spivak said of his decision, it was one the most difficult decisions of his 22 year old life, the first being just how tight he can wear his jeans without loosing circulation.
Spivak’s first order of business in his new position will be to make sure all staffers of the Creative Loafing are treated like royalty within Atlantic Station so that they continue to write favorably both about him and the project. No expense will be spared by any of our struggling eateries or retailers to please CL staffers, food editor Besha Rodell especially.
In the future, Spivak hopes to bring new businesses to Atlantic Station by offering them six months of guaranteed coverage on his unbiased and personal blog What Now Atlanta. He does plan to make membership in the Mark Toro fan club mandatory for the life of the business.
That image of that little kid screams "I'm a douche, look at me". I hope he realizes that.
This is a good thing. Caleb seems like a pretty committed guy, when it comes to reporting on the happenings of Atlanta. The guy wasn't getting paid for his blog and he was devoting what I assume was a pretty tremendous amount of time to it...not to mention that it's a great resource for anyone who is interested or concerned about what's happening in Atlanta.
I don't really get the disdain for this guy. The guy runs a personal blog that provides a lot of great information, and sometimes distributes the news with a bit of an "attitude". Who cares? It would be nice if there were more people in this city that actually cared enough about what's going on.
Yea I don't really understand the concerns here. So what if there is a conflict with What Now Atlanta. Its a free Blog - maybe he gets some minor trail residuals on ads?
He wants to get a salary, I can't fault him for that.
And as long as he makes clear that he works for Atlantic Station anyone reading the blog can factor that in. So he'll pull his punches on Atlantic Station and he won't blast Rosa Mexicana for being overpriced.
Not sure comparing the subject matter he covers to Dale Cardwell's coverage of the government figures. Though I thought Dale was a Republican anyway.
Does it sound like a potential conflict of interest? Sure, but let's not begrudge the kid (yes, kid at 22) for trying to make a living at something he is obviously good at. If the blog become a shill for AS, his audience will see right through.
I don't know too much about this dude, even in a public profile sense, but from what I do know of him, his site, and this new-media industry, he started his own brand, which is awesome, but I'm sure doesn't really pay the bills. I don't know him, but in this digital age, I'm pretty sure he started it because he loved blogging, but at some point, a blogger like him reaching's a ceiling where they can't continue to invest their time and energy into something that cannot help them pay the bills. He gained experience, he gained an audience, and he gained that audience's trust. It's because of his brand, it's because he built trust, that I'm sure Atlantic Station hired him instead of someone who will just do whatver they're told. The dude has his own voice and will I'm sure continue with the same integrity he did when he started, only this time he won't starve to death. Kudos to him. Personally, I don't care for Atlantic Station, but just because I don't like it (or you don't like it) doesn't mean we have to trash it to the nth degree. What boring a world it would be if we all liked the same thing. Who knows, maybe he'll raise the standards. I really like the idea of Relaps Theater moving in. Atlantic Station could use some more artistic, homegrown A&E.
I like his blog, but why is everyone acting like he is influential enough that there is some huge conflict of interest here? Its not like a city council person taking a job with a real estate developer on the side. Or a journalist for the AJC taking a job with the Mayor's office, or something. He runs a blog that posts stuff that can usually be found pretty easily by reading BoP or NPU agendas (except for rumors of closings, which usually are not that surprising anyway). He does almost no editorial work, and the editorial work thats posted (not by him) is usually so bad its laughable. I dont think anyone goes to the blog for editorials, they just go to see whats opening/closing. So its not like he has some big editorial influence that he is going to say "Atlantic Station is awesome" and people are going to believe him, anyway.
Well, it didn't take long. In a recent post on his blog, he 'outs' all popular restaurants that failed January health inspections ... except one. Strip, located at Atlanic Station.
Clearly, he has concerns about sharing negative info about his new employers tenants. And now he has tarnished any credibility earned on his blog.
"Spivak says he will not compromise his content for What Now Atlanta in any way."
That didn't last long, did it?
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