Ben Gilbert: evaluation

Transcript context

…The one that I wanted to really highlight that I did at the beginning of the episode is just the entrepreneurial journey of both Raymond, Jones, and Ochs. Particularly, the moments where it’s back against the wall and you have to make something happen with no resources. That has happened so many times at The New York Times but particularly with Ochs. That's just when the entrepreneurial magic happens. For an institution like this, we all think of it as the Gray Lady, the venerable New York Times, it’s been around for 170 years, but it, too, started in the same way that so many great startups start. Yeah, I love that point. There's a thing that we billed as a con earlier that I think there's an interesting playbook of it being a pro. That is conservatism and a lack of radical change as a benefit, and especially under family stewardship, where if The New York Times was more of a startup and in 2010–2014 decided to do the stuff that BuzzFeed was doing, or any of the new media companies that were all the rage and they decided not to put such an intense focus on the quality of the journalism and the daily report, look at where all those companies are today. None of them worked. Vox is the closest in having a successful set of media brands underneath it. For the most part, they got washed out and AG and the family’s sort of insistence on the core values that endured for 160 years before and now have endured another 10, I mean they almost got destroyed in not adapting for digital. It's kind of like a government. The government is intentionally supposed to not be able to adapt quickly because it's supposed to be enduring. The Times is very much like that where they did come out of this as number one because they didn't compromise on their values. That also makes me think of two other playbook themes that are classic media themes that this story reflects, too. One, content is king. It remains true today. I think related to what you're saying is that unlike BuzzFeed or many of these other types of new media organizations—…

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