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	Phil's Blogservations Thursday, December 27, 2001 Posted by philgomes 6:50 PM Down Economy Inspires Weeping, Wailing, Gnashing Of Teeth, And Prodigious Amounts Of Name-Calling: Dan Fost's column in The San Francisco Chronicle demonstrates what the economic downturn has done to members of a certain business sector that was flying high during The Boom: new economy publications. It would seem from the article that the respective editors of Fast Company and Business 2.0 have taken to bitch-slapping each other on the way down. FC's Alan Webber on Biz2: ""I still think it's the department of lost souls. [AOL Time Warner] will not kill it, but that doesn't mean it deserves to live. There's too much ego involved in it." Biz2's Ned Desmond replies: "For my money, [FC has] a very tired formula. It's one of the reasons why we have a lot of confidence. They have been playing out their own theme, 'Free Agent Nation,' 'Be Your Own Brand'...in a monthly format, and it gets very tired after a while." The article also points out some interesting facts: FC was worth $340 million to Gruner + Jahr AG and Biz2 was snapped up by AOL Time Warner for $68 million. All told, not a bad way to cash out. Both are fine publications and service very different readerships, in my opinion. It makes no sense to me why they are beating each other up, save for the fact that they are perhaps fighting for the same ever-dwindling advertising dollars. However, I do find that Mr. Desmond's criticism is valid: FC's cover story almost since its inception has been "self-as-brand" and "do your job better this month." Valuable advice (I write to you from a so-called "at-will" state, where employers or employees can terminate a relationship for no good reason, while the former laments the lack of loyalty in today's workforce), though somewhat meager gruel with which to sustain people's fickle interest. That said, I've always felt that this article about the U.S.S. Benfold stands in memory as one of the most inspirational pieces of journalism I've ever read. HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes[[dot}]com SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. If you have a bone to pick, bug the people who wrote the comment or trackback.