Trade Publications Report The Facts, Not The Fancy

I have always believed if you want to know what is REALLY going on in any industry you would do well to read the trade publications covering that industry, and ignore the popular media. For instance, if you want to know what is happening in the chicken business, read the Poultry and Egg News and ignore the Atlanta Journal Constitution. It's because of my background in business-to-business advertising, I guess, that I still receive and read a number of trade journals ... and especially those that report on the media-the newspapers, TV and radio. For instance, I am looking at a headline you are not likely to read in the Atlanta paper. It says: "Newspapers in an Electronic Age." This is a story about how Google is entering the classified advertising business and thus becoming a challenge to one of the major revenue sources for daily newspapers. It also reports how the New York Times, the Washington Post, and others are buying young internet businesses active in the classified advertising business. For instance, high capacity computers are allowing people like you and me to access "Help Wanted" classified ads on the internet, for and suddenly that is where the action is. And from reading trade publication news on the internet, I can tell you that those in the media business, as well as those in the chicken business, are going through a major transformation.

This is Gordon Sawyer from a window on historic GreenStreet.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/4/92068