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| Comment: From the Editor |
Media Frenzy
Matt Purdue
05/01/2007
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The media love to cover the media. Every editor
and reporter I’ve ever known is irresistibly attracted to stories about other
journalists and news outlets. Certainly, we like to pat ourselves on the back. In this month’s issue of Worth, our article on creating and managing a successful philanthropic prize
program presents as a model one of the most prominent awards schemes in history,
the Pulitzer Prizes.
In the writing of his 1904 will, Joseph Pulitzer, founder of
the New York World and St. Louis Post
Dispatch, spelled out a prize program to
honor recipients not only in journalism, but also drama, literature and music.
Pulitzer wisely inserted flexibility into his last wishes to enable the awards
committee to alter the nature of his prizes as media evolved. As Darlene M.
Siska, who wrote our story, notes, one of the reasons the Pulitzer Prizes have
thrived for 90 years is because they enjoy an inherent public relations
advantage: Media outlets around the country love to report on the winners.
But the majority of reports published and aired by media about
media are decidedly negative. Call it schadenfreude or envy or even a public
service, but we love to report on media gone wrong. Perhaps no other business
takes such delight in self-flagellation. For our cover story on the new interest
in old media displayed by some of America’s successful businessmen, our writer
Michelle Leder had no trouble finding reports of the demise of the newspaper
industry—many of them written by print journalists. Clearly, in an age of 24/7
digital news coverage and News 2.0 fashioned by bloggers, wiki participants and
amateur videographers, newspapers must evolve. Many have arrived late to the
party, and their share prices and valuations have plummeted.
As our cover subject Mark Cuban points out, too many newspaper
executives have become exceedingly arrogant. Cuban, about as technophilic as
they come, admits to feeling a certain allure for newspapers—he reads four of
them a day. He hopes that the prosperous entrepreneurs linked to newspaper
deals—people such as David Geffen and Jack Welch—who have little or no
experience in media could signal a rebirth for this industry. Reading between
the lines, Cuban seems to be saying that, while print media needs to unabashedly
embrace digital technology, it also needs the investment of power brokers who
appreciate newspapers not only for their growth potential, but also as vanity
plays.
Today marks a tipping point for newspapers. Will they be able
to transform themselves around the way the public consumes its information? Our
article examines men who are wagering millions on the former outcome.
Finally, by the time you read this, one of 2007’s most
interesting media stories will probably be long forgotten, but bears revisiting,
particularly by Worth readers. In January, The New York Times, the Wall Street
Journal and other publications reported that
the head of Citigroup’s global wealth management group, Todd Thomson, was ousted
from the company. The Wall Street
Journal wrote that his departure "came amid
internal tension over his judgment and expenses, including use of Citigroup’s
corporate jet," according to people familiar with the matter. Of course, my
brothers and sisters in the media mentioned that Thomson had offered a seat on
the jet to one of our colleagues, CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo. The story had all the
makings of a telenovela,
filled with vague references to their
"relationship."
At Worth, we had Thomson near the top of our
speed dial. His division’s earning leaped 38 percent in the fourth quarter of
2006, and we were always curious what he was doing right. We will continue to
strive to bring you unbiased coverage of the private banking and wealth
management industries. But, I’ll admit, Thomson will be missed, especially by
those of us who always fly coach.
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