Ho-Hum. Another New York Times Publicity Placement

I can't bring myself to cancel my subscription to The New York Times.

There are days when it never gets taken out of its distinctive blue plastic delivery bag, which also doubles as a favorite pooper scooper with conscientious dog walkers.

And then there are those editions that I have taken the time to sit down with -- often on the morning of my neighborhood weekly recycling day -- and I find wonderful gems relevant to my work, my clients, my teaching, my life. One day last week, in a single edition, I hit pay dirt.

Page One had an article about how protesters in Muldova mobilized a turnout of an estimated 10,000 opponents of the country's ruling Communist party by posting "Tweets" on Twitter to spread the word. And when the government shut down the Internet, in response, the organizers resorted to text messaging on their cell phones. Talk about "revolutionary event planning!" Who needs newspapers for publicity?

Directly opposite this article was the tale of Good Samaritan cyber sleuths (something that I am pretty good at, myself.) They tracked down the owners of a found digital camera by downloading photos and posting them on the Internet. By using clues in the photos -- the buildings, the countryside, the signage -- they were able to track the owner's footsteps, right to their front door. Who needs newspapers for unraveling mysteries?

And then on the front page of the Business section, there was a report on the recent presentation by Google's CEO to attendees at an annual conference of newspaper publishers and editors. His message: Google really, really wants to be their friend. Of course it does! Newspapers are a tremendous source of free information that the Google search engine delivers to the millions of eyeballs that its advertisers pay big bucks to reach. Who needs newspapers? Google. And do the rest of us.

That's why I can't cancel my subscription to The New York Times.

I believe that newspapers are in a period of rediscovery and reinvention, just as they were int he Halcyon Days of the dot.com era. As a consultant to organizers of "interactive newspaper conferences for newspaper publishers and editors, in the late 1990s, I witnessed how ALL of us in attendance struggled with what would be the role of newspapers online and how would they remain profitable by giving away their content. Then, and now, it was one of those "you gotta' have an Internet presence," whether you like it or not and whether you know what you are doing, or not.

And then, this weekend, I was able to see my labor for a client bear fruit with the publication of an article in, where else, The New York Times. The writer did a wonderful job in capturing the essence of the story, as did the headline writer: "More Than Just Loaves and Fishes."

Who needs The New York Times -- an other major daily newspapers? I do. We all do.