One UK Media Companies Pays Tribute to Two US Media Companies

March 18, 2010

Read “How the New York Times and CNN Try to Keep Up with the Tech Companies.” No, not the article. The title. First, the notion of “try”. The write up makes clear that the NYT and CNN are in try mode. Calvinistic? A less gifted pair trying to cope with Sergey and Larry? In French, “to make an often tentative or experimental effort to perform”.
Second, notice the phrase “keep up with”. Not “lead” or “change the game.” The notion is that a couple of 40 year old former high school stars are in fantasy camp with a bunch of retired pros and some college players. Yep, “keep up with”, not go “toe to toe” or “push the boundaries.”  The details of the write up are interesting, but what is omitted are:

  1. Explanation of what Facebook has done to become one of the largest sites on the Web and a preferred source of news for lots of folks in some tasty demographics
  2. How these two sites plan to leapfrog Google and Yahoo
  3. Where the money will come from when it becomes necessary to build software, implement enhancements, and do big time research.
  4. What about that traffic challenge? Eyeballs are needed, then more eyeballs.

I think these questions make clear the challenges traditional publishing companies face as they try to learn new tricks, make them work, and find ways to pay for the costs that software and systems for the Web bring to the party.

Stephen E Arnold, March 18, 2010

Free, uncompensated information. I will report this writing for no money to the Jefferson County shelter manager.

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