July 2001, Vol. 12, No. 7
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NEW ORLEANS -- Well, it wasn't Star Wars, but then it wasn't Ishtar, either.
I'm talking about the relative success of the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, but I could well be talking about the relative success of NEXPO 2001, the Newspaper Association of America’s (NAA) annual trade show, conference and clambake, held here June 15-19.
Roger Ebert, the Chicago Sun-Times movie critic, wrote of the 1987 Ishtar that it was "a truly dreadful film, a lifeless, massive, lumbering exercise in failed comedy." While a critical drubbing doesn't necessarily translate into financial ruin, Ishtar did lose more than $40 million.
And while NEXPO 2001 wasn't a financial success, it was not this industry’s Ishtar. The NAA said that 6580 hardy souls ventured down the bayou to sample the wares of newspaper suppliers and discuss newspaper technology. Viewing this number alone might put NEXPO 2001 into the Ishtar category, but numbers don't always reveal the truth.
The truth be told, NEXPO was successful for more than a handful of suppliers. It was almost universally understood among the suppliers that those few people walking the aisles had money in their pockets. They were in New Orleans to buy something -- something specific -- and they weren't fooling around.
There were, in supplier parlance, no tire-kickers.
Unfortunately for the industry, there wasn't a lot of new technology at NEXPO 2001. In the time that suppliers would have been coming up with fantastic new ideas that could be shown in the summer of 2001 -- back in the latter half of 1999 -- they were all swamped with Year 2000 work, and they focused on that.
The combined effect of low attendance (meaning you probably weren't there) and low technological output led me to handle NEXPO coverage differently than we have in the past. In this issue and the next one, and likely on into September as well, we will profile a baker’s dozen suppliers who we thought were overall interesting. With these profiles, you'll feel like you're on top of the leading suppliers to the industry, and you'll have been introduced to innovative newcomers.
Our NEXPO 2001 crew included Correspondent Steven E. Brier, a former systems editor at the New York Times and The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, who covered Brainworks Software and Lufthansa; Correspondent George Powell, the production manager of the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Magazine who has contributed to 10 consecutive NEXPO issues, this time writing about Digital Technology International and Managing Editor Inc., and Jason Zappe, the new kid on the block, who handled Autologic Information International and Tera, IBM and NewsEngin, and SAXoTech.
Perhaps their coverage will help you trade away the doom.
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Housekeeping notes: We're adding a new face to The Cole Papers masthead, moving another and bringing back a familiar third.
Jason Zappe, the aforementioned writer and editor who has strong technology skills, is now a correspondent to the newsletter. Zappe is a former editor at Copley News Service and a system analyst at the Daily Breeze in Torrance, Calif.; he now works as a systems editor at the Miami Herald, and has written extensively for us in the last year.
Also gaining a correspondent’s slot is Aimee Beck, our Canadian connection, who until now has been the newsletter’s copy editor.
Pete Wetmore, the founding senior editor of The Cole Papers, has agreed to return in that role after a 24-month hiatus. During that time Wetmore has toiled relentlessly on our sibling publication, NewsInc., as well as fostering a successful career as a free-lance editor and writer. I've prevailed upon him to add The Cole Papers to his juggling act, as his wise counsel helps me keep a steady hand on the tiller.
We think that this rearrangement of tasks will give you a Cole Papers that continues to exceed your expectations for quality and insight.
After all, The Cole Group is an Ishtar-free zone.
-- David M. Cole, dmc@colepapers.net
Index
Lara Croft Copyright © 2001, Edios Interactive.
From THE COLE PAPERS, July 2001, Copyright © 2001, All Rights Reserved.