Latest Activity

sandra left a comment for Joao-Pierre Ruth

June 9

Joao-Pierre Ruth's Groups

Content management sys...

147 members
Social Bookmarking for...

123 members

Blogging

185 members

View All

Joao-Pierre Ruth's Page

Profile Information

Job Title: Reporter

News Organization: NJBIZ

Bio: I am a business journalist and would-be author of fiction. I started in the biz back in 1997 before the whole "Interwebs" thing took off.

I have a passion for the technology, wireless communication, media, and retail industries. While my news stories are Jersey-centric, I draw from a broad range of sources beyond the state's borders.

This is a tumultuous time for media. But I think journalists should draw upon lessons learned when e-tailing first hit the scene. Companies such as Webvan and Etoys were all the rage some 10 years ago.

People predicted the end of bricks-and-mortar stores in favor of online order taking services.

Yes, contraction hit the retail market and some companies are still trying to figure out how to leverage online sales. But many pure play e-tailers vanished. The people who survived either integrated their online presence with their in-store operations OR they offer a unique service that remains a leader (a la Amazon or eBay).

I believe journalism and media as a whole are going through such a change. Newspapers are shutting down at an unheard of pace. Some folks think making the audience pay for news online is the answer.

Some folks who are much smarter than me have already said that no one has a solid business model for today's media market. It is still evolving. Let's not forget that while some newspapers want to charge for online news, radio and television news sources have never charged their audiences directly and it is unlikely they will start now.

That means Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and their peers will still offer free news online while newspapers try to squeeze money out of their readers.

If you disagree, please share. I welcome the debate.

Web site: http://njbiz.com

Blog: http://dailytmi.blogspot.com

Twitter URL: http://twitter.com/jpruth

LinkedIn URL: http://linkedin.com/in/joaopierre

Joao-Pierre Ruth's Blog

NJ CEO magazine suspends operations

Barely one year after it launched, NJ CEO is no more.

The publisher, Wainscot Media, is focusing on the rest of its publications.

While it was a new player in the market, NJ CEO has gone the way of older publications that could not weather this economy.

Posted on March 2, 2009 at 6:08pm —