Paramount Quietly Erases 20+ Years of MTV.com Articles
UPDATE: The website The WayBack Machine has archived some of MTV News and CMT News so fans can still read some of the old articles. Check it out there.
As a writer with most of my portfolio containing articles on the Internet, this story is pretty horrifying. Imagine that you poured your heart out into many pieces of writing over the years and worked hard to do interviews, research and everything else that comes with writing for a living. Then, wake up one day and find all of that content gone forever. This is the unfortunate circumstance that happened recently as MTV.com was suddenly erased. Not only is it a slap in the face for writers but also for readers who loved the content.
Paramount, formerly Viacom, quietly erased around 20 years of news archives on MTV.com, CMT.com and VH1.com. This comes after the shutdown of the MTV News channel last year, leaving MTV a sliver of what it once was: music videos and music news. Now, it is all reality television.
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In the early ’90s and onward, MTV News was one of the best places to find out the latest information on all of your favorite musicians, music, plus entertainment and even politics featuring correspondents such as Kurt Loder, Alison Stewart, Serena Altschul, Sway and John Norris. There were interviews with rock stars and a glimpse back into what music looked like in the ’90s and 2000s, something we like to think people still care about today.
Jerod Harris/Getty Images for MySpace
Former writers began sharing their disgust on social media. Patrick Hosken posted, “So, http://mtvnews.com no longer exists. Eight years of my life are gone without a trace. All because it didn’t fit some executives’ bottom lines. Infuriating is too small a word,” while Michell Clark wrote, “I don’t even have the words. I was just a freelancer but I put so much blood, sweat, and tears into telling stories that I cared about, the right way, on that platform. What a gut punch.”
If you used to write for or read MTV News, let us know in the comments!
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Pop Music Legends
August 2017
Dedicated to the sights, sounds and stories of the golden age of pop.
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