MediaBlather

Volume 1, No. 1

It was the end of an era this week as PC Magazine, the publication that led the revolution in personal computing nearly three decades ago, announced it will shut down its print operation and move entirely online.  TechTarget also shuttered the print editions of Storage and Information Security magazines this week.

David and Paul don’t think we’ve seen the end of this trend; not by a long shot.  Technology titles have led the transformation of the publishing industry from print to online and our hosts expect to see more closures in the coming months.  As staffs are downsized, outside experts will increasingly be brought into the editorial mix, meaning that public relations pros will need to focus more of their efforts on occasional contributors, bloggers and columnists.

Paul sees some good in this. Web 2.0 has opened publishing to a new class of experts who previously didn’t have an outlet for their skills. David sees a problem in the continuing decline of quality product reviews, however. Without institutions that can pay reviewers to go through the long process of evaluating complex products, where is this critical information going to come from?

Here’s a link to David’s eulogy.

Listen to the podcast (14:18)