Friday, December 11, 2009

Editor & Publisher 1901-2009, RIP; Opportunity for Google, perhaps?

Nielsen Co. announced Thursday it was shutting down Editor & Publisher, the bible of the newspaper industry, both print and online. E&P is a journalism institution that traces its origins back to 1884. E&P published its first issue in 1901, but later merged with the magazine The Journalist, which launched in 1884.
Hopefully E&P’s archives will end up in good hands. I wouldn’t be surprised if Google showed some interest. E&P's archives would add more than a century of articles to Google's search database.
Google is interested in archiving historical material and already has put many old magazines online.
E&P's archives seem like an obvious target for Google.
As for Editor & Publisher, it will be missed.
When I graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1984 with a B.S. in journalism, the E&P classifieds were one of the best places to look for a job in the trade. But those job listings moved online starting in the mid-1990s.
The best quote about its passing was from Dirk Smillie of Forbes, who wrote, “If your industry’s leading trade journal disappears, what does it say about your trade? Nothing good, obviously.”

Related stories:

“Editor & Publisher to Cease Publication After 125 Years,” E&P
“Media Cover Sudden Demise of 'E&P' – Readers Express Shock and Broad Support – Hope Remains?” E&P
“Q&A: Editor & Publisher’s Greg Mitchell, E&P’s editor-in-chief on the magazine’s sudden demise,” Columbia Journalism Review
“Editor & Publisher To Close, After Failed Attempts To Sell It,” PaidContent.org

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