The end is nigh. Again. But will it be the end of free content across the board (I've long thought that once the New York Times makes the switch everyone else will take it as a a cue to follow), or will it be the end of the NYT dominance on the web? We shall see. Over the weekend New York's Gabe Sherman created a bit of a stir when he reported that the Times was planning on making a final decision re paid content within a matter of days, and that some sort of metered system would likely be implemented come spring. (more...)

To hear Arthur Sulzberger Jr., tell it in New York Magazine following the Oct. 26 benefit for The News Literacy Project, the “critical flaw” of the RMS Titanic was not iceberg detection, not an inattentive crew, not a shortage of lifeboats, not overestimating the ship’s construction, nor underestimating the staying power of ice. It was this: “Twelve years earlier, two brothers invented the airplane.” This is the so-called Titanic Fallacy, which is aptly named. Tell it to the 1,517 people who died in the water that night, several hundred miles short of New York. I really wish he had kept that analogy to himself. With all the digital cheers going up around the deathbed of print, the media world does not need a pinch of snuff-porn, any more than it needs a Sulzberger Happy Meal. (more...)

"The best analogy I can think of is — have you ever heard of the Titanic Fallacy?" he asked. We hadn't. "What was the critical flaw to the Titanic?" We tried to answer: Poor construction? Not enough life boats? Crashing into stuff? "A captain trying to set a world speed record through an iceberg field?" he said, shaking his head. "Even if the Titanic came in safely to New York Harbor, it was still doomed," he said. "Twelve years earlier, two brothers invented the airplane." -- New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. demonstrates the correct Titanic analogy to employ when discussing the future of print. The fact he is clear on the problem (and the future!), alas, does not mean he has a solution. Where are the media world's Wright Bros.? Will the Zuckerbergs one day fill the void?

The New York Times Company announced yesterday, in a quarterly 10-Q statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission, that it has been working with Goldman, Sachs & Co. for the last two months to find a buyer for the Boston Globe, among other properties in its New England Media Group. (more...)