Wouldn’t you like to bump elbows with media moguls and hear from the likes of Eric Schmidt, Biz Stone and James Murdoch? Me too! Alas, Quadrangle’s Foursquare conference is closed to the public and the press. But at least I can tell you whom you won’t be hearing from.
Every year, media moguls gather at the Allen & Co. Sun Valley conference to listen to each other gab, parade around in casual wear and occasionally make deals. And for the last several years, the New York Times has provided excellent on-the-ground coverage, usually via Dealbook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin. Not this year.
Can’t get enough of Jon Stewart’s CNBC rant from earlier this week? CBS hopes not: It had Stewart on David Letterman’s show last night, and was lucky enough to get “The Daily Show” host to riff on the topic yet again. It’s a couple seconds of comedy–perfect for YouTube.
Sometimes Jon Stewart uses his platform to explain new technology, like Twitter or the Kindle, to his audience. And sometimes he uses it for a trenchant media critique. Or, as in the case of last night’s segment on CNBC, not so much a critique as a full-fledged evisceration.
Mark Zuckberg’s company has come a long way since the Harvard dorms. But if it wants to measure up against Silicon Valley’s most successful start-up of the last 20 years, it has some work ahead of it.
If you had any romantic notion that the beginning of holiday season meant an end to media layoff season, think again. This looks to be a particularly bad few days at Time Inc., where many of the magazines that asked workers to quit last month will now be firing them instead. But there are cuts, or planned cuts, coming to all manner of media companies.
Under normal circumstances, if the CEOs of big companies like Cisco, Microsoft, and Comcast speak in front of an audience of bigwigs, it’s news. But you’re unlikely to hear what John Chambers, Steve Ballmer and Brian Roberts say today and tomorrow at Quadrangle’s Foursquare conference–no press allowed. Unless…
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider.
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
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