The Evolution of Old Media

In early June, Jason Jones of Comedy Central's The Daily Show visited The New York Times - the result was a scathing depiction of the paper as out-of-date, out-of-touch, and full of "yesterday's news."

In fact, Jones says during the broadcast: "Some ... still think there's merit in publishing the news 24 hours after if s happened" and he challenges Rick Berke, assistant managing editor, to "give me one thing in there that happened today." Ouch.

'What's black and white and red all over?" Jones asks Bill Keller, executive editor, who responds with the expected: "A newspaper." "No," says Jones, "your balance sheets."

It's hard to argue with that.

According to Paul Gillin, a "new media strategist" writing in the May 4, 2009, issue of BtoB: "U.S. newspaper circulation is down a record 7% in the last month. Magazine newsstand sales fell 12% last year. The cost of reaching a customer on television has more than tripled since 1986 in constant dollars." (The value of constant dollars has been adjusted to account for inflation.)