The print of death
Here’s one more reason print has a problem: This week, The New York Times Magazine published its annual issue about notable celebrities who’ve died over the past year. And, although the issue was dated December 31, 2006, there was nothing inside about James Brown, Gerald Ford or Saddam Hussein, all of whom died after the magazine went to press. Of course, print publications will always be at the mercy of press deadlines, and the Magazine is one of the first sections of The Times to close. The real missed opportunity is online. The version of the magazine that appears online is identical to the print edition. There’s absolutely no reason this version couldn’t include Brown, Ford or even Saddam, assuming the editors felt they fit the issue’s “idiosyncratic” selection criteria. No reason except for the worst possible one: the idea the online and print editions need to be consistent and identical. Which makes absolutely no sense at all. Ten years—or even ten weeks—from now, when someone is prowling the archives of nyt.com, all they’ll see is a magazine that was out of date before it was even posted online, and they’ll wonder how The Times, with all of its resources, could somehow neglect to cover three of the most significant deaths of the year.
