Description:
A conversation about the future of newspapers with Walter Isaacson former Editor of “Time Magazine”, Robert Thomson managing editor of “Wall Street Journal” and Mort Zuckerman owner and publisher of “The New York Daily News”.
Charlie “How bad is it?”
Walter “pretty bad”
At 9:20 Robert Thomson says, “Google devalues everything it touches” and I cannot help but think that he sounds like a local store owner complaining about WalMart. In the mean time everyone is shopping there and the company is single handedly responsible for most all innovation in store / product logistics. Rickles and Bamburgers went out of business for a reason, the free market spoke.
I can’t believe Mort Zuckerman didn’t mention at any point that his newspaper’s location in the commuting mecca of NY, NJ, CT is a competitive advantage that other newspapers around the nation do not enjoy. He seems blissfully aloof from the challenges of the new internet paradigm.
24:00 The panel seems to think applications and content will save their industry by creating value they can charge for. But they still haven’t told me what “need” they are filling. The value comes from filling unmet needs.
I would like Charlie Rose to ask at the next panel discussion the following questions:
1 – What unmet need is your newspaper now filling in the internet paradigm.
2 – What value can you expect to derive from filling that need?
3 – Is that value enough to make your business economically sustainable?
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Fascinating discussion; I love Zuckerman’s enthusiasm.
Thompson has a great point at 12:15, saying that he was talking to a Young and Rubicam person who said that they believe advertising does better on television and in print than online….”Dead trees are definitely not dead….”
He also says at 16:45 that the presence of the print product as a complementary content to the online is important. “Every newspaper is of itself a great brand.” The longstanding newspaper brand gives a website credibility in an online, cluttered environment.
Newspapers and magazines need to stop giving away their freshest content online, period. They need to charge for it. But they can give away other stuff. Most papers have not published their sometimes 100 years of archives online for free, which actually might be a fascinating source of online readership without hurting the current print advertiser, who is essentially paying for newspapers to AVOID his ads by reading online.
Newspapers ought to separate the web staff, and make it compete with the print, while sharing resources.
Thanks for posting it.
That doesn’t mean newspapers shouldn’t have an online presence, just that it needs to digest what is in the newspaper.
http://www.brandlandusa.com/2008/10/16/20-ways-to-save-your-dying-newspaper/
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