NYT’s Sulzberger: We can’t care if newspapers die

“We must be where people want us for our information. It’s the thought of cannibalizing yourself before somebody else cannibalizes you,” says Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman and publisher of The New York Times.

As CNET reports, Mr. Sulzberger gave a keynote address at the WebbyConnect conference in California, on Oct. 22.

“Our 21st-century news cycle, with its trials and tribulations, feels even more immediate because of our access,” he said. “It is reasonable to ask: Do we need all this news and information? Do we want all this news and information? Can we tolerate all this news and information?”

In an age characterized by both extreme uncertainty and a glut of outlets to hear about it, Sulzberger said people will turn to trusted and pragmatic voices.

“Now that everyone is in their end-of-the-world mode, we should make a conscious effort to reject the increasingly frenzied ‘apocalypse now, tomorrow, and forever’ talk,” he said. “Quality content matters…trustworthy voices are more important than they have ever been.”

The New York Times Company’s stock has been trending downward for years now, its quarterly earnings haven’t been sunny for quite some time, it underwent newsroom layoffs earlier this year, and no one’s denying that many of the ad dollars once enjoyed by a few national news outlets are well on their way to distribution across a vast array of new-media publications.

However, Mr. Sulzberger would brand this not as a crisis, but rather as change that requires adaptation.

“It’s important for traditional companies to adopt strategies that enable us to be of the Internet, not on the Internet,” he said. “There must be an institutional commitment to engage in reinvention, especially as the information revolution picks up steam.”

More about WebbyConnect conference

• Read the conference’s official blog

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