What Little I Know…

Yikes…

I don’t know how many of you caught Maureen Dowd’s article on the NY Times site today, but it was one that put the news industry back a couple of notches and it’s not as though we had a lot left to give.

In Maureen’s article, entitled ‘Dinosaur at the Gate’, she tries to paint the picture of Google as the evil big brother, responsible for the demise of the newspaper industry.  “Firms, like Google here and Craigslist in San Francisco, have hijacked journalism, making us feel about as modern as the Tyrannosaurus rex model that sits on the Google campus” wrote Maureen.  I gotta’ say that Maureen is unfairly representing the industry when she uses “us” to describe the feelings of the collective.  I work in publishing and definitely don’t think of myself as a Tyrannosaurus rex!

Nonetheless, after reading the article, you see that Maureen wrote it from the personal perspective, as opposed to an objective one.  If anyone in our industry were to objectively view the state of the newspaper today, in relevance to major search engines or pure play competitors, they would immediately become forward thinking and strategic.  Most online properties recognize the brand recognition and trust and depth of local information a daily newspaper holds – this means online consortiums and partnerships with major search engines aren’t out of the question and we should consider them where it makes financial sense.  In addition, there are tons of startups that specialize in enabling newspapers to produce current and engaging online applications and uber targeted advertising on a newspapers site.  There are options and for many of the forward thinking publishing pundits, the future is not all doom and gloom.

Maureen, I would encourage you take a few steps back and look at the industry from a holistic perspective - Readers, the Community, and our Advertisers.  Guaranteed if you do that, you will quickly recognize, it isn’t all about you.

Rex, I am here to let you know, that the industry has transformed.