My first reaction is "Wow, he's thinking ahead" and my second reaction is "No, he's just releasing a press release making himself look better than the competition." The question is, has Murdoch done anything like that in the past or did Fox cancel Arrested Development?

June 28, 2007

Dear Jon Fine,

I enjoy your media articles in Biz Week. However, I have failed to find anywhere where you have addressed the future of big media as I foresee it:

1. The reason that Rupert Murdoch is buying the WSJ is its imprimatur for truth and justice. I and millions of others trust the WSJ reporters' facts and their columnists and their editors' outlook. The WSJ is not just a paper product supported by advertising but a vehicle that selects and presents the finest writers, factchecks (usually) and edits to a superior standard. Murdoch wants to raise that standard into an international force of similarly selected writing stars and smart editors. The product will be electronically distributed every way possible: Iphones, Blackberries, a newfangled but far superior Sony Reader (see below), paper etc. Eyeballs will gather advertisers just like Google does now . Annual subscriber fees much like those for the electronic WSJ and Times Select now will also raise sufficient revenues to support a farflung international empire of the best bloggers, writers, editors, stringers and columnists available to all in one fast easy to read place. The WSJ and the NY Times will become, in essence, talent agencies the public trusts. There is no way the LA Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, et. al. can develop a similar level of trust. Perhaps, if properly managed, Google or even Yahoo could develop a similar level of trust with a stable of stars, but it will take them many years of legitimate scoops and Pulitzer prizes to achieve this status.

2. I just cancelled my Sunday-only NY Times subscription after 42 years as first a 7 day subscriber, then for the last two years a Sunday-only subscriber, because, although the computer screen read is far inferior to the paper product, it is tolerable, if only because I can skip quickly over the 85% useless articles by interpreting the headlines alone. If the NY Times would adopt an opening paragraph popup on each headline, I could probably skip 92% of all the articles and columns. There is simply no justification any longer for cutting down millions of trees each year for newsprint. If you and/or your peers are truly environmentalist-minded, you would push for electronic distribution of all media all the time on suitable platforms like the improved Sony Reader described below. I will not be renewing my Biz Week paper product at the end of 2007 either and ditto all other paper mags. I may be a dinosaur in age but not in outlook. This is the best move I (and you) can make immediately to improve the world's resources.

3. Why don't you and any of your peers write about the lameness of the current Sony Reader and the potential for a new kind of media reading (and listening because all writing can now be converted automatically into inflected voice) platform? All it takes is for you and others to excite Steve Jobs' competitive juices once again now that he is finished with the I-Phone. A new Sony Reader should unfold from a 3x4 pocketable poptart into a 9x12 clipboard, display in color, use intuitive buttons or touchscreen prompts for zoom and navigation, and connect to my USB2.0 port or Wi-Fi hotspot for downloading the WSJ and/or NYTimes. With a velcro strap on the back of the clipboard I can read my newfangled Sony Reader on the arm that holds the subway bar or strap.

I look forward to your new articles that address the above topics.

Best regards,

Jeff Milman, jmilman@juno.com