Why newspapers failed the internet, despite arriving early

There’s an excellent article on Slate titled How the newspaper industry tried to invent the Web but failed.

The title practically says it all. But this addendum at the end is probably the shiniest nugget of gold:

In the ’90s, if you were at a newspaper and learned about the Web, you were likely to grow frustrated and disillusioned with how slowly the paper’s management was waking up to how the new medium actually worked. They got on the Web, and then just sat there. So if you had any restless or entrepreneurial gene in your body, you would sooner or later give up on your arthritic bosses and go do something interesting online yourself or with some startup. The newspaper industry suffered a steady exodus of the very people who it should have been relying on to navigate the new waters.

When an industry faces massive, earth-wrenching technological change, retaining and encouraging the employees who get it should be a number one priority.

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