Recently, I wrote that the dawn of content abundance presents publishers with an opportunity to answer an exhilarating question: “Who are we, and how do we add value?“
An example of both abundance and the opportunity showed up in the New York Times, where Tim Arango wrote about the digital rebirth of Liberty Magazine, which closed in 1950 after publishing nearly 1,400 issues.
Liberty has a storied past, with a variety of articles by writers, political figures and celebrities whose names remain a draw today. Warren Buffet claims that delivering Liberty Magazine in the 1930s was among his first paying jobs.
But all of this was true for the sixty years since publication ceased. What’s new now: the tools to reach audiences are now available cheaply, and widely. Content owners can revisit the past with fresh eyes and new opportunities. That’s true of even Robert Whiteman, who at 84 is working to see Liberty make a digital comeback.
