Friedman: No biz magazine is safe

Jon Friedman of Marketwatch writes Monday that the fact that McGraw-Hill is trying to sell BusinessWeek shows that no publication should be safe.

Friedman, a former BusinessWeek writer, writes, “No matter how glorious or storied your history might be, what matters now is your ability to sell ads in a prolonged downturn and capitalize on the Web. Under the stewardship of its online editor, John Byrne, BusinessWeek has tried mightily to show that it is up to date.

“Problem is, few people consider BusinessWeek to be in the forefront of innovation. The fact that it is a news magazine published every week reflects the uphill struggle it has in competing for attention against the Web and the 24/7 television and radio operations.

“BusinessWeek, like other magazines, has been losing ground to such titles as the Economist and, especially, the Week.

“The death of Conde Nast’s Portfolio a few months ago showed the fragility of the business-magazine space. The reports that BusinessWeek is on the block hammers the point home, again.”

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