Matt McCallister, who recently left IDG for Yahoo, wrote a very thoughtful post on why he couldn’t get The Standard, the company I founded and IDG still owns, relaunched while at IDG. Very true words, especially these:
I wish somebody would launch a media brand that covered the Internet business for people in the Internet business. I’ve bet my career on this industry, and it would be really nice if there was a brand that stood independently in the middle of it, reported on it with intelligence and depth and integrity, and helped facilitate dialog amongst us all.
Aren’t blogs, collectively, doing just what Matt is looking for? It may take a bit more time and effort on the part of the reader, but once the feeds are aggregated you’ve got a pretty compelling product.
Maybe he’s coming at it from the journalist’s perspective and wants a product/brand that could sustain paying jobs for the writers. That’s a more interesting thought. Have blogs effectively changed the supply/demand equation for journalism thereby altering the job market (especially for niche publications)? Do blogs do a better job covering specialized subjects than traditional media?
It’s a dynamic time, disconcerting to some, but fundamental changes seem to be at hand.