Man bites dog

The FT, in an article wonderfully subtitled, "Intern in the News," reports on the huge response that Morgan Stanley received when it published a brief report by a teenage intern, Matthew Robson, on his cohort's jaundiced view of both old and new media. "The way the story spread was 'a classic story of a web 2.0 meme,'...'the mainstream media reports it in a prominent place, social media people are intrigued by it and stir up the story, then the mainstream media write the story about the story.'" (The quote is from John Palfrey of Harvard Law School). This reminded me of that frumpy singer who swept out of obscurity recently. Just as no one expects that someone of her appearance can sing so well, no one imagines that teenagers can succinctly report their immediate views in a convincing way. So when one does, the prodigy aspect of it kicks in: "Kid pundit rocks world." It's like Daniel Liebeskind's initial fame at WTC. Cast against type, he won hearts, becoming sort of a star in a reality show, in effect, like that English woman, Jade. (Of course, she proved much more talented at reinventing herself, unto death.)