Wired Editor: “I’m Not Wedded To Dead Trees. I’m Wedded To What We Can Do With Dead Trees”

Wired editor Chris Anderson and Conde Nast publishing director David Carey spoke to PaidContent.org about winning three Ellies and how print is still relevant in the Internet age. Key points? Anderson says some kinds of print are still valued:

You’re not going to want to read 8,000 words on your screen. And we just won an award for design. HTML does not do justice to really innovative design, to what we won for tonight. And so, that kind of print is not dead, it is still thriving. And our company, in particular, focuses on mostly monthly, high-production, high-design visual artifacts.

Carey on e-readers:

We’re happy to work with all the e-reader providers. But our core competency is creating these beautiful magazines. Hardware is not our business…we’re happy to leave the hardware business to [hardware makers], because they can’t do what we do.

Anderson:

If somebody will invent the device that has the portability of the Kindle, the color and vibrancy of print, when that day comes in 20 or 30 years, I’ll give up print. I’m not wedded to dead trees. I’m wedded to what we can do with dead trees.

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