• by January 20, 2004

Greetings! It is my great pleasure and privilege to embark on a wholly new adventure as the new executive editor of MediaPost. Landing at MediaPost will provide an incredible platform and vantage point from which to analyze, critique and survey the evolving landscape of digital marketing and media. It will be great fun heading the digital coverage and working closely with our traditional media czar Joe Mandese. I'm also looking forward to working with the entire team here to continue building the dynamic news product and media community we call MediaPost.

Fresh off a month's hiatus that included soaking in some of the best mineral hot springs in So-Cal and lollygagging (actually, dozing!) in the desert sun, I'm psyched to take on the challenge of this new gig. But there's another reason why it's so appealing--I sense a ferment and an energetic resurgence in the digital media landscape these days. It's based on real ideas, business models and technologies. It's not based on vaporware, though I'm sure there is plenty of that out there. While I'm not quite ready to proffer a State of the Union address, I do feel positive about the developments in streaming media, storytelling via the Web and the intersection of offline and online media.

My hope is that we here at MediaPost via the MediaDailyNews and Media Magazine will help spur ideas and inspire creativity, identify trends and markets as well as the change agents who are succeeding in pushing media--online and traditional-- beyond existing boundaries. We want to challenge and provoke, listen and discuss. What's working, what's not working.

I've worked with many of you during my tenure at Advertising Age where I coaxed and cajoled you for stories, negotiated and harangued. I look forward to bringing you incisive and original reportage and hope that there will be plenty of give and take.

I hope I'll be talking to many of you on a regular basis in the coming weeks. Thanks to many of you who have sent congratulations and well wishes. Feel free to drop me a line at: telkin@mediapost.com.