'The Printed Blog' Was Not Deceptively Brilliant
In your failure-prone Tuesday media column: The Printed Blog does not revolutionize the media, the Washington Post investigates endlessly, the newspaper industry declines more than 100%, and—what's this?—the City of New York wants to give money to you!
In January, one media entrepreneur got an idea so crazy it just might work: Why not start a publication called "The Printed Blog," consisting of various blog posts from around the internet that you print out and distribute like a newspaper? Alas, now The Printed Blog is folding, just like we said it would, because it was a terribly backwards idea, business-wise. But points for trying. "It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all." We should keep that in mind!
Mayor Mike has announced formal initiatives to save the media industry, right here in the Big Apple! The most interesting: 20 "fellowships" (that means money!) for tech or media entrepreneurs. Such as yourself, if you have an idea! Apply while they're hot.
The Washington Post is still engaged in hand-wringing and self-flagellation over that fucked up memo about selling access to lobbyists. They have launched an "internal review," which is the type of typical thing that media companies do after all the facts have already come out. This has also forced The Atlantic to explain why its own 90% identical program is okay.
News of the newspapers, to-day: The NYT Co. postponed its deadline for accepting bids for the Boston Globe, perhaps in hopes of getting an actual good big; in positive NYT Co. news, "The New York Times announced today it has launched its international weekly news supplement in La Razón in Bolivia"; and, in your Crushing Numerical Reminder of the Dying Nature of the Newspaper Industry of the day, "Profits fell 100.1% since 2004 at newspapers with circulation greater than 80,000." That is more than 100%.