onpoint

Leonard Downie Jr. on Future of Newspapers

by Andy Brudtkuhl on June 30, 2008

If you are a classic GANB reader you know of my interest (perhaps obsession) in the evolution of media. Last week OnPoint had Leonard Downie Jr. on for an interview as he steps down from the executive editor of the Washington Post after 17 years – and 44 years total with the paper. The discussion includes topics such as the future of newspapers, old media embracing new media, and how the landscape of news media will change and adapt as the audience moves increasingly online. It’s a great discussion.

Listen

This week, Leonard Downie Jr., the executive editor of The Washington Post, announced he’s stepping down after 17 years at the helm.

Forty-four years total at the newspaper, where he arrived as a summer intern in 1964.

Many of the stories he’s had a hand in are defining: Watergate. Secret CIA prisons. Walter Reed. The Post has won 25 Pulitzers with Downie in charge — six this year.

But he’s not without some regrets. And he’s leaving at an uncertain time for newspapers — and for the news.

On Point – Leonard Downie Jr

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Jeff Bezos Interview

by Andy Brudtkuhl on June 27, 2008

Now that Bill Gates has retired my new “wish i was him” is Jeff Bezos. He was interviewed on my favorite radio show, On Point, yesterday where he discussed the future of reading, e-commerce, the economy, and the internet.

Here is the broadcast…

JeffBezos

In the world of the Internet, Jeff Bezos is a giant. A pioneer. In the old days, they might have said a god.

He started Amazon.com when e-commerce was next to nothing and the web was still a whisper. Today, Bezos is a billionaire, Amazon is ubiquitous, and the web, well, it’s the way we live.

It hasn’t all been pretty. A lot of bookstores have been trampled. Amazon’s balance sheet was touch and go along the way.

But Bezos is still thinking big. From the way we read, to “cloud computing,” to humans in space.

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