• by Kelly Samardak , January 15, 2009

Gotham Media Venture Digital Breakfast, The Harvard Club, New York
January 15, 2008

I reentered the workforce after a brief wide-open spaces hiatus in lovely Mantua, Ohio to experience more of the same: a deafening whistling quiet in the media social scene.  The absence of larger scale get-togethers gave me time to wallow in one of the worst colds I have ever had, and also generate what nickname Sawyer from "Lost" would call me if we were sharing sand on the island (It's "Sticks" if you're curious).  Through a goopy green haze of Mr. Mucus (you know the guy) I discovered "The Digital Breakfast" offered by Gotham Media Ventures.   Hoping we wouldn't simply be viewing breakfast on the Internet, I wrapped my scarf tightly around my neck and headed out into the crisp and fluffy snow this morning aiming for the Harvard Club.  Holy suits, Batman.

Now, mind you, I'm not a morning person, but since my cough keeps me up all night anyway, being showered and ready by 7:30 a.m. was a breeze. The single digit shivers stopped me from sporting heels and I'm comfortable enough in my own self not to give a hoot (don't pollute) if people are gaping at my waterproof Timberlands from college.   Yes, this is what I kept repeating to myself in the elevator as it filled up with suits and a floor length fur coat.  This was after waiting in the coat check line and noting that no one under 30 had surfaced and everyone was corporately costumed.  Must have missed the memo.   The Harvard Club isn't much different from the Yale Club.  Both are stuffy and reek of the old boys' club.  Only, Harvard actually displays the old boys on the walls.  Muted old dudes vogueing military-style adorned the red wood barriers.  Mingling around me were a few of the people I had drizzled in with. 

I knew I wasn't going to see any familiar faces because Twitter was aflutter last night and this morning with all the social mediaphiles hitting the Social Media Breakfast at the Roger Smith Hotel. I could have gone, but instead of seeing the same chunk of people talk about how much they know and love social media, how much they know and love each other, and how much they know and love bacon (mmm, bacon),  I wanted to hear other voices - see what Martin Nisenholtz, SVP, Digital Operations, The New York Times; Chrystia Freeland, US Managing Editor, Financial Times; Tom Bettag, Former Executive Producer, Discovery's Koppel Group, and Former Executive Producer, ABC News Nightline; and other panelists believe The Future of News and Information is.  Some tidbits:

Martin Nisenholtz, an animated and ready for battle don't-tell-me-print-is-dead sort of guy, bristled at the suggestion that The New York Times is in demise.  "For people subscribed for two years or more... the churn rate is nil, they either die or move somewhere we don't cover."

Chrystia Freeland spent some time in Kiev at the time Russia was collapsing.  There she saw that not only did the New York Times have a bureau there, but so did the Philadelphia Inquirer, and so did the Baltimore Sun.  There was an oversupply of information, "and the Internet is exposing this," she noted. " Does there really need to be a Baltimorian [sic] view of the downfall of Russia?" she quipped.

On broadcast news:  "They oughta take every broadcast news person over 50, including myself, and shoot them, " decreed Tom Bettag to a laugh-gasping audience, comparing broadcast news to an area in Yellowstone that hasn't seen enough fires and suddenly one creates an enormous blaze.  He continued, "You have to get out that deadwood to let the new sprigs come up."  

Freeland is convinced, buoyed by her pay-for-news experience at the Financial Times (ft.com), that users will pay for news.   However, when the audience was asked if they already pay for news, almost the majority of hands went up.  The coin flipped with "would you pay for news online" -- and more than half of the hands retreated.

A guest who did not wish to be identified expressed frustration in the panel, saying  "There was no mention of licensing deals and only two mentions of e-readers; mobile (iphones, blackberries, other smartphones) was never brought up. That fact alone suggests why some of these traditional organizations are in such deep trouble; outside of the Times (which has good mobile offerings, and whose representative mentioned the Kindle), they are not meeting their readers' needs or demands. Everyone already agrees that the content has value; I would have liked to have heard a little bit more about how these people actually plan to monetize that content."

I like a good problem -- and it would have been worthwhile to see more diversity of thought and experience in the audience and in the first panel.  I overheard one attendee offer that "it would have been nice to hear from someone who actually has NO experience based in traditional media" when he noted that all panelists came from that foundation.  I told him that those people were actually all at breakfast together.  Maybe instead of whipping out the Captain Caveman club and bludgeoning an over-bludgeoned dead bovine, yelling "print is dead!", the social media and tech types that I know and love should participate in all media conversations and not only listen and identify opportunities, but also drop the club and stop trying to savagely kill traditional media channels and start helping transition instead.  New job title alert! Traditional Media Transitionist!

There was a second panel, I didn't forget you - just running out of space, that was a bit of an abrupt transition.  They presented some content creator/advertisor/publisher friendly technology.  Some are listed here.

As a side note, it also the following would have been GREAT: free Wi-Fi, or at least publicizing of the access code for people who want to Twitter, and signs on the third floor pointing to the location -- you know, so that people like me  don't sit at a table in someone else's meeting -- like I did.

That's it! Tonight I'm hitting the Mashable New Years Networking New York New NetYorking thing.

Who else was at breakfast?

Invite kelly@mediapost.com to your party and get covered in Just An Online Minute!

Oh! PS.  MediaPost's own Joe Mandese will be on the panel at the next breakfast on Feb 10, 2009