Today I noted a couple of things going on with so-called “new media”; and worth mentioning, I found both tidbits online for free after having missed them in their traditional “old media” delivery channels.
Perhaps the next best thing to being at the leading edge of “new media” (if you’re part of the “old media”) is reporting on it. Enter the NPR series (just started today) on one of Madison Avenue’s oldest ad houses’ approach to the latest thing. I heard the teaser during Morning Edition and was eagerly awaiting the story on my drive home. It was interesting, but not what I expected. I hope the rest of the series is a little more compelling. At the very least, it’s hooked me into waiting for the next installment.
Meanwhile, Organic’s blog, Three Minds, rebroadcast Rupert Murdoch’s Special Report “Mixed Media,” which appeared on Forbes’ site on May 7. Perhaps the most interesting, yet unsurprising statement, is that “old media are threatened by the erosion of our traditional profit centers.”
I’m thinking that’s what NPR was thinking when they chose to examine the subject, but they might have missed the mark.
What ever you might feel about Mr. Murdoch or his enormously successful Fox News empire, if you’re at all in tune with what’s going on in the overall media world, you’ve got to at least appreciate his perspective on the direction of mass media, and his ability to express it in the throes of a multi-billion dollar take-over attempt. You can’t deny it: he gets it, but we’ll just see if he can make “it” happen.
—Chris
