Arianna Huffington: The Debate Over Online News: It's the Consumer, Stupid

Instead of trying to hold back the future, I suggest that media execs read The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen (since I keep mentioning the book and giving copies to friends, I'm thrilled that Christensen is now blogging for HuffPost), and see what he has to say about "disruptive innovation" and how, instead of resisting it, you can seize the opportunities it provides.Or go to any college, as I often do, and ask a group of students how many of them, during the campaign, saw Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin. It's usually 100 percent.

Then ask how many saw it on Saturday Night Live. It's usually no more than one or two. Yes, SNL could have said tune in to NBC Saturday Night at 11:30 or don't see it at all. But Lorne Michaels and Jeff Zucker obviously don't want to go the way of Rick Wagoner and his Detroit buddies.Delivering the keynote address at the Newspaper Association of America's annual conference on Tuesday, Google CEO Eric Schmidt cut right to the chase, telling the assembled newspaper men and women: "Try to figure out what your consumer wants.

If you piss off enough of them, you will not have any of them."After we posted the Charlie Rose segment, HuffPost commenter osage weighed in: "EVOLVE OR PERISH. If AP refuses to adapt to the demands of the internet marketplace, it will disappear just as surely as 5 1/4" floppy disks and public pay telephones have disappeared. Resistance is futile."I'd love to hear your take. Fire away in the comments section.

Arianna Huffington: The Debate Over Online News: It's the Consumer, Stupid

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