Some of all fears.

• Position: Editorial

AGREAT EDITOR is motivated entirely by fear." That was a comment made by Esquire Editor David Granger during a round of promotion interviews for the magazine's 75th anniversary issue published in September 2008. He was referring specifically to the passing earlier this year of the great Clay Felker, founder of New York magazine and a "hall of fame" editor by any standards of the business. One instance of such fear, said Granger to Forbes columnist (and a consequential editor himself) James Brady: "Reading Clay Felker's obits, I was reminded Clay himself once said he was afraid that television would completely overwhelm magazines. And that didn't happen."

I can't vouch about the "great" part, but I can certainly vouch about the fear.

As with Felker and Granger, one fear shared is how new technology will affect the printed medium. Right now many newspapers are flatlining. Magazines still have a pulse; in his interview with Brady, Granger said he does not believe the digital medium will supplant magazines. Nor do I. Indeed, I am reminded of New Yorker Editor David Remnick's comment to a group of fans of the magazine at a discussion that I attended that "The best technology for reading a magazine is a magazine." And then there are specialized journals like DIRECTORS & BOARDS, which have always had a powerful niche in the publishing realm because we deliver "need to know" information, counsel, and insight to readers who must perform their jobs at a master practioner's level.

Nonetheless, any editor has to maintain a fearful watch as digital options crowd out a reader's available time to absorb information. That fear inspires us to keep our print publications an essential component of our readers' lives...