They knew

Today's media execs are the carriage makers of the late 19th Century. People, and most likely some of those people were their employees, told them their product was dated, it's business model broke.

I remember bringing online ideas to management types, pointing out what at the time were minor Internet threats (if you're in any business, that's highlighted, all-caps code for opportunity), and stating we had to change how we did things. I, and others, didn't have the answers, but we could certainly sense that our high-brow profession was about to be raided. "If we do X, we can defend against Y."

It was refreshing and depressing to hear a similar story at Content Brides: "Unfortunately, most editors have been there, and expected that someone above their pay grade had a plan. Slowly, the realization is dawning: behind the curtain, there's no wizard, just Dean Singleton, Sam Zell, Gary Pruitt, Arthur Sulzberger, Mary Junck and other CEOs stuck in the center of a currently unworkable Rubik's Cube."

It's much easier to say and think 'I told ya so' if you aren't part of the group reeling from the 'so.' The changes many saw years ago are coming piecemeal. Instead of improving efficiency (an overdue improvement in many newsrooms), the wizards are adding duties, cutting bodies, disguising key content changes, and increasing fees for users. Look it up: see what that fifth wheel did for the carriage industry.

Duh ... it's the money

* Sharon Waxman reminds us what we learned back in the 1980s (e.g. Gary Hart) about the Nat'l Enquirer. Money talks in this sordid side of 'journalism' where only a handful of people know the key details.

I think several of us have been in this position before - knowing X was likely but all of the folks who know won't talk. To the folks in Raleigh, you did no wrong.

* Pray for our friends at McGannett. The hammer is about to fall on them, if it hasn't already.

Welcome

I may be a little late to the party but at least I'm not alone. Seems like everyone on the print side of the business wrote down the wrong date, heard second-hand about the shindig or simply let other appointments pile up.

But we're here nonetheless, even if some of our friends and former colleagues aren't.

I have no set plan for this blog, other than to write more for myself and more for my craft. The links listed on the page offer a hint of what interests and worries me. I anticipate posts about writing, reporting, politics, sports and the business.

Thanks for visiting.