This article was making the rounds the other day and I felt my head nodding.
I want to nitpick just a little by focusing on a term that has become ubiquitous to any discussion of working in media. That term is, "digital." You know, what was once a series of 1's and 0's is now used to describe a person, place or thing. In this context, the "thing" is work and if you haven't not gone digital, you're a dinosaur.
The article refers to "digital talent." These are usually 20-somethings (look at the photo) who sit in half of a cubicle with a 2005 computer monitor, a tethered mouse and look like that young man does. Mostly they are men but that is changing. Ladies and gentlemen, these are your future media moguls but they will not be leading YOUR company. Mostly likely, they'll go start their own and bring others with them.
I'll illustrate my point. A day before I saw that article, I was talking with a longtime mentee who is a reporter and also teaches at a university. Recently she was put (yes, put) on a panel at her university to have a high-flying conversation titled, "Bias in Media."
Ok?
She said there were two main problems: In addition to the title of the panel (um, objection your honor, leading the witness?) there was a line of questioning that presumed digital media promotes media bias. On the panel were representatives from local print, TV and radio. She told me, "It was clear when I sat down that since I was the youngest professional on the panel, I represented digital." We both had a good laugh.
I think her example is one of many untold ones where a large creative class of people, while wanting to work, will not stay someplace just because they can get health benefits and paid vacations. My generation (unnamed, as we fall between end of the Boomers and the start of Generation X) often dismisses them as spoiled brats who do not want to do the time needed to climb the company ladder. The article says there isn't one such a ladder anymore and I agree.
Still, let's not call them "digital talent." Instead let's dub them tomorrow's CEO's that are today in a coffee shop with free wireless near you.
