A Foolish Time Inc Executive Referred to Digital First Media Companies as "Digital Attackers"

“We’re competing with digital-first attackers structured differently from us. We’re fully committed to the high-quality journalism, but there are things we can learn in terms of how these digital attackers organize themselves to create content.”

The statement above by a clueless and foolish Time Inc executive underscores the mentality at the company in its upper management which has stunted its digital acceleration. If the executive wanted to sound an urgent alarm to emphasize how serious Time Inc is about digital, all he/she accomplished, was sounding like a corporate blowhard which leads us to something Vice Media CEO Shane Smith recently said:

“Too many times in media you have lawyers or MBAs running media companies. They don’t have a feel for the content. … I’m amazed that no other CEOs of content companies actually make content, because that’s the business that they’re in.”

This is is a major problem at Time Inc. The upper echelons seem to be the ones trying to figure out how the so called "Digital Attackers" create content. Well first off, the "Digital Attackers" are not top heavy in their management structure. They also don't operate under a bureaucratic corporate culture. They operate under a creative culture and employs people who represent the very demo they cater to. Time Inc continues to make the mistake of viewing companies like Buzzfeed, Vice and Vox to name a few as somehow infringing on their territory. But it's the complete opposite. Time Inc for years has been behind in the digital race since the Don Logan/Ann Moore era. And is right now in the middle of playing catchup and infringing on the territories of the so called "Digital First Attackers". These companies aren’t attackers, they are simply the new media companies for a new era. Time Inc was just slow to change course and shouldn’t view these companies as “attackers” but should view them as templates, blueprints of what they want to become. But they are still trying to figure a lot of things out. Talking New Media hits the nail on the head with its description of Time Inc's current situation:

One part of the company appears to be heading in one direction, while the other is being dragged along. Even new digital sellers brought in tend to get lost in the corporate structure and soon are out the door, often laid off. Time Inc. is a bit like a car with four flat tires, and a driver who only pumps air into one of the tires every time someone points out the problem.

OUCH!



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