More Signs of the Apocolypse

For the traditionalists, the news from Editor and Publisher isn't just bad; it is epic. The lifeblood of the industry is advertising revenue, and it dropped precipitously in 2007. On-line grew, but not even a 10th of what it takes to make up for the print loss. The worst loss in 50 years is how the story characterized the drop. I await the analysis that says this really doesn't point toward a change. Right. Like global warming becomes climate change when one year's winter temps wipe out the statistical rise over the past several.

At the same time, this very clairvoyant entry off the blog of one of the true gray ladies of the industry, TIME, about where the industry is headed. I particularly like the part about how the package we get our news is changing. It reminds me of a quote I heard this week on NPR talking about someone needing to figure out how to "monetize eyeballs" as they harvest news from lots of free sources (that reference at the bottom of the TIME piece on the individual atoms of news). That's spot on -- and it is where those dollars leaving the E&P story are waiting for someone to tell them where to go.