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(AP Photo\/Mark Lennihan, File)<\/p>\n
Michael Hirschorn was wrong, and he\u2019s absolutely \u201cthrilled\u201d about it.<\/p>\n
The New York Times announced<\/a> Tuesday in a column from executive editor Joe Kahn and managing editor Carolyn Ryan that Hirschorn was The Gray Lady\u2019s<\/a> new media columnist \u2014 along with an intriguing reference to \u201crevisiting his past reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n The Times report on Hirschorn\u2019s hiring includes a reference to an article<\/a> he wrote for the January\/February 2009 issue of The Atlantic headlined, \u201cEnd Times.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCan America\u2019s paper of record survive the death of newsprint? Can journalism?\u201d the subheading asked.<\/p>\n In the article, Hirschorn looked at The New York Times Company\u2019s earning reports at the time and commented that \u201cdrastic measures will have to be taken over the next five months or the paper will default\u201d on hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. The Times was also facing dwindling cash reserves, debt in excess of $1 billion, and \u201cno clear way to tap into the capital markets (the company\u2019s debt was recently reduced to junk status); \u201cthe paper\u2019s future doesn\u2019t look good,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n Of course, Hirschorn could not predict the Wordle effect<\/a> and other developments that have helped the Times grow digital subscriber numbers and increase revenues<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBack in 2008, I wrote that The New York Times could plausibly go out of business,\u201d Hirschorn is quoted in Kahn and Ryan\u2019s article. \u201cI\u2019m thrilled to have not only been proven wrong, but so wrong that you guys were able to turn around and hire me.\u201d<\/p>\n Hirschorn is only the fourth person to hold the title of the Times\u2019 media columnist, which \u201cwas pioneered and developed by David Carr two decades ago,\u201d wrote Kahn and Ryan, and later held by Jim Rutenberg and then Ben Smith, who \u201conly deepened the column\u2019s impact with their investigative muscle and analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n The Times editors lauded Hirschorn as \u201can insightful, mischievous, forward-looking writer and media executive\u201d who \u201chas been both a player in the ever-changing media ecosystem as well as a keen observer of it for the past 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Hirschorn\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9 includes serving as the features editor at Esquire, executive editor of New York magazine, editor in chief of the alternative music magazine Spin, co-founding Inside.com, head of programming at VH1 during the early 2000s \u201cas the network pioneered the celebreality genre,\u201d as well as helping A-list musicians including Jay-Z, Skrillex, and Diplo develop their YouTube channels.<\/p>\n His written work includes contributions for The Atlantic, The Times Book Review, T magazine, plus\u00a0\u201ca number of standout columns\u201d for the Times.<\/p>\n Hirschorn\u2019s column, \u201cThe Media Equation,\u201d will kick off in November.<\/p>\n