Don’t kill off my print magazine!

I read one of those “quotable quotes” from Ballmer who recently said that the print industry will die off in ten years. We’ve all seen the digital effect on newspapers as they continue to scale back on editorial pages. But books and magazines? I really can’t see my favourite magazines going solely online in ten years.

I don’t mind reading short current news bites, weather, sports scores and headlines off my BlackBerry or computer. But for full-feature coverage complete with photos, please give me my magazines.

My favourite magazine of all time has to be Vanity Fair. It is brilliant. Everything about the magazine is flawless. The writing, photography and even the ads are simply sublime. I look forward to my copy in the mail every month. This month’s issue did not disappoint as usual. The brilliance of Vanity Fair is how they seduce the reader with a glossy, Hollywood front cover and then take you inside some of the most outstanding writing and research on subjects ranging from war, presidents (past and present), current events, socialites gone mad, actors who kill, and European philanderers. Their writers have no problem digging up sordid details and going deep into issues. Last year I read the story about that beautiful thoroughbred horse named Barbaro and how his trainers and owners had to put the lovely creature down. The article celebrated the life of this horse and captured the pain and suffering of everyone who loved him. Not one television story or newspaper article captured the essence and the human-like soul of Barbaro than that story in Vanity Fair. Because this is what Vanity Fair is all about: in-depth, provocative writing that sets the standard in journalism.

This month’s article on President Clinton is a real page turner, too. This is the same article that prompted Clinton to call its writer a “scumbag.” The article is hilarious and a bit shocking. Apparently Clinton’s best buddy is some jet-setting billionaire whose private plane is aptly nicknamed “Air Fuck One.” And another piece of the puzzle is put into place … poor Hilary.

I realize that Vanity Fair also has a dotcom site chock-full of content. But it’s just not the same reading experience.

So are you to tell me that my favourite high-gloss magazine that I can take to the beach, on a plane and curl up with in bed will become extinct in ten years?

Say it ain’t so! I have no desire to ever, ever, ever go to the bathroom with my laptop propped up on my knees!

Why I still rely on mainstream media

Okay, am I the only one who relies on mainstream media to tell me what is happening on the Internet?

I never find out anything “as it happens” on the Net. It first takes a news story to appear in a newspaper or on the radio to alert me of some provocative YouTube video or interesting website.

For example, I learned about the Diet Coke/Mentos great experiment through the Globe and Mail. It seems Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has released an awesome YouTube video with Chuck Norris yet I only learned about this a few days ago from CBC Radio. The Sunsilk wig-out video came to me courtesy of Toronto’s City-TV’s news broadcast, and both of Dove’s viral campaigns came to me via trade publications. While all of this is going on, I’m a bit oblivious to it all until one of my trusted media sources tells me “it’s out there so you’d better check it out.”

I think the role of mainstream media is very much under-valued in the social media ecosystem. There is definitely a “working in tandem” theme between the digital social media world and the old media guard alerting most of us on what is going on out there. I actually like the fact that mainstream media acts almost as a bit of a filter and guide, pointing us to what’s cool and newsworthy so you’re not perpetually lost in the digital pipeline.

So while companies rush to the web, YouTube and the like to get their messages out there, a little help from authoritative media helps everyone navigate some very busy social media waters.