On Virgins and... not virgins

Medellín, COLOMBIA--A few days after I started writing for Colombia Reports, our readership more than doubled. We’d been floating at around 600 visitors a day (selfish self promotion: you could be one of those!) and suddenly it was nearly cresting 1,400. It was 1,644 the next day. Then 2,031. My head might have swelled a bit had I not known what Adriaan had published right before the climb began. Tucked among the latest drug raid and a fresh accusation in the ‘parapolitics’ scandal, was this gem: “Colombia loses only pornographic channel.” The extra kick? Playboy News Online picked it up.

These days, virtually any newspaper you visit offers a list of most emailed stories. It wasn’t always this way. I remember going to the San Francisco Chronicle’s website in the early days of newspaper websites—in other words, not long ago. They too had a list, but it was of the most read stories. I’m pretty sure there was some major news breaking that day because otherwise I wouldn’t have gone to the site. Yet the list, well, might as well have been the lineup for Star magazine. Michael Jackson led off, with Brittany following and Madonna in the three slot. Something about O.J. Simpson batted cleanup. (If it sound like an unlikely array, I plead pop culture ignorance.) It was a mirror to our priorities and it wasn’t pretty. It was a lot like looking at our site traffic.

On the second day of our pornographic channel-inspired explosion, I found a story about Viagra sales in Colombia. I didn’t even have to confer with Adriaan—I knew I had a winner. I banged it out right away and we put it up. In the next 24 hours, it barely made a ripple. However, a story I’d written a few ticks before, a breather after hammering out two exploring the latest ‘parapolitics’ cases—clearing the vice president of charges and calls for a top minister’s resgnation—brought a second wave. “Virgin appears on bucket near Cartagena” got picked up by SpiritDaily.com, a kind of religious DrudgeReport.com, and became a runaway success. Religion triumphs over sex.

Actually, sex usually wins. In our all time top ten, which is more of a top eight because one is the homepage and the other is the news homepage, you get right to the end (my Virgin) before you see an article unrelated to sex or, well, sexiness—Miss Universe results hold the number 4 spot, while speculation on Miss Colombia’s chances is firm at number seven. Our all-time non-homepage leader, with nearly a thousand more views than the nearest competitor, is “Yidis Medina”—a former congresswoman who says she was bribed by Uribe’s supporters to vote for his reelection—“poses nude in magazine.” Number nine is a tag search for Yidis Media—draw your own conclusion. The remaining two is our recent porn channel triumph and a Shakira-and-boyfriend sex tape rumor piece. We like to stay astride all Colombian news.

Given what has been going on in Colombia—a ‘parapolitics’ scandal is reaching further each day up the current administration’s ladder, demobilized paramilitary leaders are spilling the beans about their crimes, a steady flow of negative human rights reports, Uribe fighting for a currently unconstitutional third term—the top ten list is a little disheartening. It’s not that I don’t understand the draw—I too was fascinated to learn that with the loss of Kamasutra TV, Colombians will no longer be able to watch “Erotic Cuisine,” “The Other Side of Sex” and “The Porn Guru.” I just thought things were a little more high-minded. On the other hand, Adriaan and I have been discussing a running series on the strip clubs of Medellin. We’re businessmen.

[First, I realize that by linking them I only entrench their positions. Well, let the mirror be accurate. Second, if you got this by email, it's because I added your email to an automatic send function. If you don't want to receive it, just tell me. Same for if you don't, but you'd like to. Also, I've started using datelines because the first question you all ask me is, 'Where are you now?' That said, retrospective blogs will dateline from where I was. So I guess the real reason is just because I like the false sense of professionalism. Finally, Adriaan and I have yet to do any research.]