• Yahoo/ Fortune, Monday, April 10, 2006 11:15 AM

Fortune senior writer David Kirkpatrick says what seems increasingly obvious, but hard to stomach, these days: "Some of the biggest [media] companies seem to have stopped fighting the Web and instead fallen in love with it. They think it is better than they are--that there is no answer other than to completely submit [to it]." Newspapers and magazines in particular appear less and less devoted to the long-held contention that what they do is irreplaceable. Instead, they seem beaten down and ready to reform themselves in ways that concede they are of lesser importance than the flashy new guy in town. But this is a big mistake, posits Kirkpatrick. First of all, he believes people will continue to read newspapers and magazines for quite some time to come. Moreover, he notices that smart Web companies, such as Google, are figuring out ways to increase their profits on the backs of old media (by placing ads in conventional print mags, for example). Kirkpatrick says in his column that old media is behaving badly, or at least immaturely. In some ways, they still hold the keys to the kingdom. "My own belief," he writes, "is that the future of media, especially for print and TV companies, will continue to very much depend on strong brands. Branded content can be used across many different media." Kirkpatrick's is an excellent column and offers what so many others don't: fresh thinking.

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