This post is a little off topic. Some of you may know that I met my wife while working on our college newspaper together over 10 years ago. So, beyond the technology, one of my other niche passions is the news business, particularly magazines and newspapers. (I, also, hate the 24-hour news and how its declined the quality of news reported, but that’s another post for another day). My wife worked in every type of media possible from newspaper, magazine, radio to TV. So we’ve been surrounded by the biz (albeit small market) for our entire adult lives. So its interesting to watch what is happening to the industry at this critical time. Its also interesting to watch new ideas and new models emerge as the times are changing.
About a year ago (maybe less), I saw a CBS Sunday Morning report about a startup web magazine called The Daily Beast. It was the newest venture for editor extraordinare Tina Brown of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker fame. I was really impressed that she was venturing out on a limb and trying to embrace a web only format. If only some of her contemporaries in the newspaper business had been so forward thinking, but that’s besides the point. She was just launching an online magazine format – something that I’m not aware has been successfully done before.