SAN FRANCISCO -- Editors attending the convention of the American Society of Newspaper Editors at the Fairmont Hotel this week didn't have to plunge into all that confusing Internet and tech talk right away.
Before Tuesday's session on "the future of technology and its impact on newspapers" -- the only Internet-related discussion they would have to endure all week -- the ink-stained wretches took a little tour of Silicon Valley to cushion the shock.
Explaining her participation in the 11-hour forced march through "the belly of the beast," Keven Ann Willey, editorial page editor at the Arizona Republic, told the ASNE Reporter that "I came to get a greater appreciation of what the technological future of our industry looks like."
Ray Holton, editor of The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, said he came to see technology that is on the back burner. "We should be innovating more."
Tony Ridder, CEO of Knight Ridder, said he hoped that "many of the editors will walk away understanding the spirit of the valley."
So off they went, appropriately enough, to San Jose's Tech Museum of Innovation to check out, as the ASNE Reporter put it, some "of the latest innovations, including one that allowed people to be suspended in midair."
Of course, hanging by your thumbs is nothing new in the newspaper business.
. . .
Another blown deadline: "Technology And Pagination: Integrating the New into Your Newsroom," a how-to guide for page designers and editors, was there for the taking at the registration table. The thick tome is an introduction to word processors, style sheets, "pagination software" like Quark, and PostScript technology. All of it brand spanking new ... in 1991.
. . .
Techno babble: After Excite CEO George Bell took a moment to make sure every editor understood the basic elements of the AtHome service and cable modems, Mary Furlong, founder and CEO of Third Age Media emphasized it was good to explain terms like "user friendly" [chuckle -- "my daughter says her boss isn't 'user friendly'"] and "24/7" [more chuckles] -- just a few examples of the crazy things the kids are doing to the language these days.
Robert Ingle, president of Knight Ridder Ventures, added that someone's boss may be "404." The Web error reference seemed to fly over the audience's heads.
. . .
Presidential follies: ASNE booked President Clinton as Thursday's luncheon speaker. But editors will have to leave their pocketbooks, cell phones, and pagers behind in their hotel rooms. Carrying these gadgets will only slow down security checks at the Fairmont's Grand Ballroom where the president will speak, editors were warned.
Alas, a planned Thursday evening performance of "Beach Blanket Babylon," a long-running San Francisco revue, had to be cancelled because, uh, there was no room at the Fairmont big enough to handle the sprawling show -- "and also some security considerations involving the president." This guy is no fun at all.
. . .
We'll be issuing a statement: The rules for reporters questioning convention speakers are strict: "Members of the press are asked not to disrupt the sessions. ASNE floor managers and the hotel security staff will monitor the meeting and luncheon rooms to maintain order."
Further, "only ASNE members may ask questions from the floor."
Who needs those hard-hitting reporters' questions anyhow? The first question from the floor following the conversation with Andy Grove: "Intel funded the building of a new high school in New Mexico -- can you tell us a little about that?"
. . .
Mass has class: Is mass media dead? Members of a panel on the future of technology chewed on that question Tuesday. Knight Ridder's Ingle said he doesn't think so. Despite the Net's one-to-one marketing's appeal, newspapers are still potent, but they have a mass marketing job to do, he said. And it's to get those suckers to buy, buy, buy.
"I don't think [mass media is dead].... Stimulating demand is still a central function of both print and broadcasting. It's one of the last products of its kind."
. . .
Newspaper IPO frenzy?: UC Berkeley professor Manuel Castells -- best known for his "Information Age" book trilogy on society in the networked age -- said Net stocks boast immense market caps thanks to huge, air-filled trader expectations for their business models. "Everybody has low expectations for newspapers, so you have to create interest and reverse expectations." Easier said than done, perhaps.
