VITAL Source makes NY Times, thanks to MJS
Sheesh. Say what you want about the declining importance of our nation’s foremost daily newspapers, but I bet if you made the New York Times you’d tell all your neighbors. I know I would… and so I am. This morning we were all in the office, just settling into our coffee and email, when the phone rang. It was a VITAL reader who saw in today’s Times that VITAL had gone out of business. The reader had called to express his condolences but was delighted to hear that the story was untrue.
We all work in one giant open office, so there’s no such thing as privacy. Ryan had taken the call, and from one side the conversation had sounded unremarkable. But as soon as she hung up, she yelled “What the _____!” and ran to a computer where she looked up the article in question. We all gathered round and read in horror. Here it is:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/business/media/26gamer.html
The thrust of the story is about how the owner of one magazine, Hardcore Gamer, faced with shutting the book down, put it up for sale on eBay and successfully sold it. The lead paragraph mentions Vital Source as being among over a dozen magazines to fold in January 2009 alone.
Even though it’s just a passing mention, it’s still the New York Times and I felt the need (once again) to clarify our position. Through the website, I emailed Stephanie Clifford, the author:
We currently enjoy a very healthy web audience and will be launching a much-expanded portal in early March. This portal … will serve the hyper-local constituency of the Milwaukee-area population, and allow us to better meet the information, entertainment and news needs of our audience. Of particular note is the fact that we have not lost one single print advertiser to the change; ALL of them signed up with us online.
Thanks in advance for any consideration in clarifying this. I’m sure you know that many people will read your article and simply take it at face value if no addendum is offered. I can be reached at 414-XXX-XXXX if you’re interested in speaking further about how one magazine is evolving rapidly to meet the changing demands of the marketplace.
Best Regards,
Jon Anne Willow
To my surprise (just because you never know if people read their site-submitted messages), I received a prompt and courteous response with the assurance that a correction (which she had me verify) would be printed in the paper with an addendum added to the online story.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who contacted her. Sources tell me that Ms. Clifford “learned of VITAL’s demise through Milwaukee’s daily newspaper.” So, just as I ultimately owe a debt of gratitude to the Journal Sentinel for inadvertently drawing more local attention to VITAL’s situation than would probably have otherwise occurred, I can now also add a special thanks for putting our name in lights nationwide and around the world.
So thank you, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. We couldn’t have done it without you.
