What Will Happen to Media When All the Billionaires Bail? (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Advertising Age ^ | February 9, 2010 | Simon Dumenco

[abb]

If you're a certain sort of still-employed media person, you're probably wondering how much longer you can hold on to your job. But the larger question might be: Just how unreal -- illusory, delusional, unmoored from the realities of the marketplace -- has your job been all along?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately in regard to the coming passing of the media billionaires. Nobody likes to admit this, but much of the best of contemporary journalism has been produced, and continues to get produced, simply because of the largess -- and the emotional needs -- of a small group of rich people. The struggling New York Times, for instance, still produces good journalism mainly because the Sulzbergers, who control the Times Co., see themselves as guardians of a public trust. (Let's hope their loan shark, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim -- who coughed up $250 million last year with some scary strings attached so the paper could refinance some burdensome debt -- continues to smile on that mission.) For 105 years, the Bancroft family thought of themselves similarly -- until suddenly they didn't, at which point they offloaded The Wall Street Journal to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

Murdoch's purchase of the Journal is itself, of course, a grand ego-driven folly, which he's only underscored lately by funding the creation of a metro desk at the paper. Let's face it, there is no strategic need for the Journal to get into a local-reporting turf war with The New York Times (this is really more about Murdoch's grudge match with the Sulzbergers), and so let's also be blunt: When old man Murdoch dies, the Journal, his baby, will suddenly be vastly less interested in covering local politics and such. (And News Corp.'s interest in continuing to own the WSJ will likely evaporate too.)

Rupert Murdoch turns 79 next month, by the way.

Billionaire investment banker Bruce Wasserstein was just 61 when he died last fall after being admitted to the hospital with an irregular heartbeat. Bruce owned New York Magazine, where I spent many of my happiest years as a "serious" (and, well, not-so-serious) journalist. I was thinking of Bruce last week because of the news that my old colleague Hugo Lindgren, who worked under NY Mag Editor in Chief Adam Moss as editorial director, was leaving ... for Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Hmmm, I thought. He's leaving the warm embrace of one money-losing media property that's owned by the estate of a dead billionaire to go to work for another money-losing media property that's owned by a still-living billionaire.

Well, I suppose, good for Hugo -- good for any journalists who can still eke out a living, and do good work, on a billionaire's dime. (God bless us, every one!) But then I thought: Where's the next generation of media Richie Riches who are willing to take losses on worthy properties? For that matter, how much more patience does the current generation of Richie Riches have left? Never mind the Bancrofts. Billionaire Sam Zell has been badly battered by his quixotic quest to turn around Tribune Co. The gilded Forbes family, a few years back, sold 40% of the parent company of Forbes magazine to an investment group (that includes, hilariously, Bono). Octogenarian billionaire Si Newhouse has basically gotten out of the business of propping up prestige publications at Condé Nast for corporate/familial glory, as signaled by the closure of half a dozen magazines in the past year (only the money-losing New Yorker still gets a pass). And a couple weeks ago, perhaps most poignantly, even John R. MacArthur, the president/publisher of nonprofit Harper's Magazine -- his family foundation keeps the lights on -- appeared to be panicking, suddenly sacking his longtime editor and complaining to his staff that (according to a Times report) "the mainstream media is ignoring it to death." (No fair plowing millions of your family's money into a magazine only to get ignored!)

Much has been written about the death of journalism, blah blah, as the margins at once-great publishing companies vanish. But something else is vanishing too: the old black magic that drew deep-pocketed backers to media ownership because media (specifically newspapers and magazines) offered them ample other rewards (regardless of the state of the balance sheet). Like, prestige. A place at the table. Access to the halls of power.

But now bloggers can get White House press credentials. A thousand people retweeting a link to an amateur YouTube video can set the day's political agenda. And the chattering class may have stopped reading Harper's, but over at Forbes, they're eating up PerezHilton.com; the magazine just named Hilton No. 1 on the "Web Celeb 25" for the third year in a row.

A lot of the loudest new players in media, in other words, have no use at all for billionaire benefactors. Now, given that billionaire benefactors seem increasingly inclined to grumpily gather up all their marbles and go home, that's a good thing -- unless, of course, you're one of the scary number of journalistically inclined media people whose entire career, or what's left of it, still hinges on how some old rich dude feels about himself this morning.

[abb]

We need benefactors...

[abb]

ping

[abb]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/05/BU361BS2N2.DTL
Pepsi picks social media over Super Bowl ads

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/business/media/08carr.html?sq=demand%20media&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=all
Plentiful Content, So Cheap

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/07/AR2010020702693.html
White House press corps feels bypassed by Obama in favor of TV shows, YouTube

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45&aid=177437
Newsday union leaders to meet with management to review paper’s financials

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/448009-Why_You_Should_Learn_From_Fox_News.php
Why You Should Learn From Fox News

[highlander_UW]

The struggling New York Times, for instance, still produces good journalism...

What...does the NYT have a good sports page I'm unaware of or something? I haven't seen evidence of good journalism from the rag of choice in quite some time.

[NativeNewYorker]

This article is dead-on. I’ve been modeling the media universe this way for a while. The media barons, from Pinch to Rupert, are the last of the analogue age news barons. Sic transit gloria mundi.

[sodpoodle]

The television media has its own multi-millionaire employees; aka *talent*.

One would think that Chrissy, Keith O, Katie and a few others could combine their net worth and buy a newspaper, or a TV channel.

They clearly lack the entrepreneurial spirit by not investing their money where their mouths are. Just sucking at the teat of the capitalist pigs they denigrate. Cowardly cretins.

[Savage Beast]

When the Propaganda Machine (i.e. the “Mainstream Newsmedia”) finally collapses, the so-called “journalists” and others who produce current propaganda will find themselves pushing mops and lawnmowers if they’re lucky.

[abb]

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=141961
Online Video One Step Closer to TV-Sized Ad Loads

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=141965
Marketers Say TV Spending Will Drop. Nets Stay Bullish. Let the Deals Begin

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/448011-Waldman_No_FCC_Bailouts_in_Store_for_Media.php
Waldman: No FCC Bailouts in Store for Media
Senior advisor is responsible for report on state and fate of industry in midst of change

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/448010-Olympics_2010_NBC_Slows_Streaming_to_a_Trickle_in_Vancouver.php
Olympics 2010: NBC Slows Streaming to a Trickle in Vancouver
Network’s decision to back off live Olympic Web coverage reflects concerns over core product

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/447997-Are_the_Olympics_Worth_It_.php
Are the Olympics Worth It?

[Arm_Bears]

I wouldn’t let any of ‘em within 2-blocks of my house.

[camle]

it’s called “killing the goose that lays the golden eggs”

which is exactly what we’re doing.

[SmokingJoe]

“Murdoch's purchase of the Journal is itself, of course, a grand ego-driven folly,”

Nonsense.
The WSJ has kept increasing circulation since Murdock took over, and it's now the biggest circulation newspaper in the country.

” Let's face it, there is no strategic need for the Journal to get into a local-reporting turf war with The New York Times”

Oh yes there is. A WSJ managed by Murdoch can whip The Slimes in any war anytime.

“(this is really more about Murdoch's grudge match with the Sulzbergers),”

Grudge match with the Sulzbergers?
Over what?
The Sulzbergers empire is already dying, even as Murdoch's Fox News continues to soar from triumph to triumph.

“Billionaire investment banker Bruce Wasserstein was just 61 when he died last fall after being admitted to the hospital with an irregular heartbeat.”

So what? Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone is over 83, and still as strong as ever.
Who is the idiot who wrote this article anyways?
He is praying for Murdoch to die early so his precious New York Times doesn't get any competition?

[1776 Reborn]

We need benefactors...

I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a conglomerate today! ;-)

[McGavin999]

LOL, that is so funny! The reason people are taking their money and heading for the hills is that instead of being admired for running a paper, magazine etc. people HATE, LOATH, and DESPISE the media. Why pay to have someone spit on you?

[seowulf]

When the Propaganda Machine (i.e. the “Mainstream Newsmedia”) finally collapses, the so-called “journalists” and others who produce current propaganda will find themselves pushing mops and lawnmowers if they’re lucky.

Don't you worry about them. They'll find jobs at the Ministry of Truth in the White House.

[abb]

http://www.buzzmachine.com/
Stop selling scarcity

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/business/media/08iht-cache08.html?scp=2&sq=media&st=cse
Free vs. Paid, Murdoch vs. Rusbridger

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/cable-tv/e3ia613cdbc5ebee2c59ee7416a01a12d46
CNN to Guarantee ‘Away’ Audience

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004065657
Thomson Reuters ‘Illegally’ Imposing Pay Cuts on U.S. Journos, Guild Charges

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2010/tc2010027_356976.htm
Google’s Display-Ad Sales Should Top $1 Billion

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Hereandthere/ABC_Newsstand_sales_fall_9_1_percent.asp
ABC: Newsstand magazine sales fall 9.1 percent

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/magazines-newsstand-sales-fall-91-percent/
Magazines’ Newsstand Sales Fall 9.1 Percent

http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/cincy-up-to-15-ad-production-workers.html
Cincy | Up to 15 ad production workers said out

[mdmathis6]

You know, the print media could suddenly become profitable overnight if they would simply report the truth, no matter if it blacks a liberal’s eye or conservative’s! They need to employ a balanced editorial perspective....liberals, conservatives, moderates, UFO cultists, all get a chance to express their views. And use cultured language, not 4th grade targeted drivel....people who are truly interested in the news will look up the big words in the dictionary if the need to! The news print media needs to stop writing as though they were writing to school children,,,it’s the adults that have the money...and the adults want more sophisticated news...not liberal drool!

[ckilmer]

the way you get the billionaires happy is to explain to them that t boone pickens is right. the USA needs to shift over about 40% of the transportation sector to natural gas and ramp up production of same in the lower 48 for domestic consumption and out of alaska for export so as to make the USA a net energy exporter.

That will reverse the capital flows around the world.

Cap the cost of oil at about 55-60 dollars a barrel or the cost of oil production in the gulf of mexico--cheap energy always creates conditions for worldwide expansion.

Harden the US dollar.

reverse the downward trend in US government deficits-- which you'll notice started in a big way in the 70's with the first opec oil embargo at a time when the US became a net importer of oil and US oil production peaked and started going down.

Increase the value of US dollar assets held by foreign central bankers.

Put a hurt on middle eastern radicals.

there's more but I just can't think of them now.

In short, tell the billionaires that they need to get behind t boone pickens. he understands their interests better than they do even if he's only a multi millionaire.

[Question Liberal Authority]

“You’re right, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars *next* year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I’ll have to close this place in... 60 years.” - Charles Foster Kane, Citizen Kane (1941)

[abb]

http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/
Why it’s perfectly OK to blog for free

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/article.jsp?content=D9DO0B1G0
New York Times Co.’s 4th-qtr results expected to show newspaper ad slump easing

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/02/07/entertainment/e210039S05.DTL
Power, not money, drove pioneering journalist

[Savage Beast]

"They'll find jobs at the Ministry of Truth in the White House."

Yes, or working for the Department of Natural Resources (or whatever they call the environmentalist department) of some state government.