Innovation in Media: When Global Meets Digital
On Wednesday April 22nd, The Levin Institute and The New York Academy of Sciences co-hosted a panel discussion “Innovation in Media: When Global Meets Digital” as part of the Innovate New York series.
The panel included Geoffrey Sands, Director of McKinsey and Company, Betsy Morgan, CEO of The Huffington Post, Tom Phillips, Director of Search and Analytics for Google and Marc Frons, Chief Technology Officer of The New York Times.
The discussion looked at whether New York would stay a center for the media industry as well as what directions the quickly changing industry might head in the near future.
Geoffrey Sands spoke about helping companies develop strategies for creating business models. He said he advises clients to develop a portfolio of initiatives, knowing that not all will succeed. Sands believes that good companies embark with a clear assessment of risk and that intelligent companies recognize when an initiative isn’t working and pull back quickly.
Betsy Morgan followed up by discussing how the Huffington Post focuses on their staff and agility. She stated that speed to the market is dependent upon good technology and editing. When asked why the Huffington Post selected New York as its headquarters Morgan said that their company deliberately decided that they wanted to be surrounded by their peers and have close relationships with their clients, and New York was the place to be. She mentioned that the Huffington Post is interested in investing in human capital, and New York, being the center of news media attracts young highly energetic journalists and technicians.
Tom Phillips discussed Google’s operations in New York and said the city attracts talented engineers from graduate programs on the east coast. He also said Google NY has more engineers working here than ad sales people. Google has capitalized on the tech talent coming from Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies and Wall Street. Phillips mentioned that Google initially chose NY as a base for Western Hemisphere direct sales. He said that New York’s thriving advertising industry drew Google to open operations here, and he believes that the fact that Google is in NY will help New York stay the center of advertising.
Another key aspect of the discussion focused on advances in technology and its impact on print publications, as well as on the channels through which communities engage in sharing information. Blogs were a common theme as well as Google’s position as a search engine in finding direct links to information on both news and consumer products.
Marc Frons of The New York Times spoke about how the Times has been focusing on evolving faster as both print advertising and printed newspaper consumption falls. He said the newspaper is using a confluence of many factors to create a unique reading experience for its readers. The Times has started incorporating interactive tools, blogs, twitter sites, text messaging and email alongside journalist’s reports to offer a “both sides of the coin” approach to disseminating information.
Finally, the panel came to the conclusion that strength in today’s journalism lies in creating a balance between the content produced by media organizations and the information to which the organization links the readers.
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GEOFFREY SANDS, TOM PHILLIPS: IMPORTANCE OF BRANDS |
BETSY MORGAN LOCAL MEDIA STILL RELEVANT? |
Transcript
Full Event Video (Windows Media)