Noted author Steven Johnson writes about old and new media, and the transition underway in today’s media environment. It’s not a one-sided analysis of the media, neither simply championing change nor complaining about the demise of old media.
Johnson believes that newspapers should have thought about online ventures and the value of their “brand” as outlets for news and information long ago. Had they thought about developing the new distribution models instead of getting into the game late, they may have found themselves in a different position today. ” There should have been a ten-year evolutionary process: the ecosystem steadily diversifying and establishing its complex relationships, the new business models evolving, the papers slowly transferring from print to digital, along with the advertisers. Instead, the financial meltdown – and some related over-leveraging by the newspaper companies themselves – has taken what should have been a decade-long process and crammed it down into a year or two.”
For detailed analysis about the developing digital media landscape, check out this recent article in Strategy + Business.
