An alert FBvian points us to Malcolm Gladwell’s most recent piece in the New Yorker. In the lead, he makes an example of News publisher Jim Moroney, who, in Gladwell’s estimation, doesn’t quite understand the business in which he works. Ouch. (And that goes for all of us who produce for the printed page. Because the transition to free — if that’s where we’re headed — won’t be an easy one.)
Update: Another ouch. Mea culpa. Let’s jump.
Something interesting just happened to me. I think (and hope) it illustrates why print will always be necessary and why people will continue to pay for it.
The FBvian sent me the link to Gladwell’s piece. I read the first 460 words of it hurriedly on computer screen. A little voice in the back of my head said, “Huh. I thought that whole ‘information wants to be free’ idea was about three years ago. I’m surprised Gladwell is going that direction.” So I printed the story. On paper. To read it later.
Walking back from the printer, with Gladwell’s story arranged on a page more as a magazine story would appear (instead of a web page), I saw that his piece was actually a book review. When I’d read it online, I’d just assumed it was a front-of-the book piece for the New Yorker, where I’m accustomed to seeing Gladwell’s stuff. Uh-oh.
I sat at my desk and devoted my full attention to Gladwell’s story for 10 minutes or so. Because that’s what reading requires — as opposed to browsing. Or clicking. And, lo, I saw that Gladwell’s piece was actually a take-down of Chris Anderson’s book Free — and, by extension, essentially a defense of Jim Moroney.
So I take it all back. Or most of it. Because I still printed out Gladwell’s story and read it for free. And that still hurts.
