Newspapers and Doom
December 22, 2008
You fans of dead tree companies will want to read James Surowiecki’s “News You Can Lose” in the New Yorker. You can find the digital version of the story here. To cut to the chase, for me the most telling comment Mr. Surowiecki made in this article was:
The difference is that today they don’t have to pay for it. The real problem for newspapers, in other words, isn’t the Internet; it’s us…. Does that mean newspapers are doomed? Not necessarily.
This goose doesn’t the mental equipment to dispute Mr. Surowiecki’s argument. True, I worked for a newspaper with a profitable electronic unit, but the paper self destructed and sold me like a box of Wheaties to a rust belt outfit. That team of management wizards spurred me to jump to Ziff Communications, a more enlightened information operation. But that too was broken up and sold off. I managed to weasel a consulting contract, and I have been a rental goose for almost 20 years. A happy rental goose, I might add.
The business undertaker is ready for the next dead tree outfit to take up residence. Will it be a newspaper like the Detroit Free Press or will it be a little guy like the local penny shopper. What about a small, over leveraged specialty publisher? Maybe a big New York book publisher? What about a magazine like Newsweek? Any nominees? Are there enough readers to support both Harper’s and The Atlantic? Interesting questions this silly goose opines.
I understand what Mr. Surowiecki has asserted. However, he does write this article for a dead tree outfit. He makes money by selling books published by another dead tree outfit. He has his roots (no pun intended) in the dead tree information sector. So, his “not necessarily” is a very gentle way to suggest that doom has not blanketed every nook and cranny of the dead tree publishing world.
But to be candid, I read “not necessarily” as a way of emphasizing a photon of hope. I would have concluded his article with this statement, “Hasta la vista, baby.”
Stephen Arnold, December 22, 2008
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