While there are many great agencies throughout the country, New York remains the heart of the advertising and PR industries. Unlike during the “Mad Men” era, they’re no longer huddled together on Madison Avenue, but they’re still here in New York.
Until Stuart Elliott retired from The New York Times a bit more than five years ago, the newspaper of record always gave significant coverage to the ad and media business and, to a lesser degree, public relations. Stuart’s column was a must-read, as was Randall Rothenberg for a while before him and, for decades, Phil Dougherty.
Until December 2014, The New York Times had a regular column devoted to the business of advertising and media since 1935. Now, there’s an infrequent story about an agency or a campaign.
It seems to me that The Times would want to step up its coverage of the ad business. The ad column drew readers and sold papers…something that’s a challenge these days for newspapers.
Another popular column in The Times was the “Media Equation,” written occasionally by Jim Rutenberg. The column became most popular under curmudgeon David Carr, who covered the media from 2002 until his death in 2015.
The Times announced yesterday they’ve hired Ben Smith, the editor of BuzzFeed, to cover the media.
I’m looking forward to reading him starting early in March.
Now, if The Times could only get back to serious coverage of the ad and PR business again. Long overdue.
