New York Times table at SXSW

There are a number of panels at the South by Southwest conference that fall loosely under the heading of “the future of [fill in the blank]” be it film, television, newspapers, or the media at large.

Most of these start sounding pretty grim after the first few minutes, when the filmmakers get upset that their art is being delivered in 10 minute chunks and the journalists get upset that they are having to lay off reporters and facing major budget crises. There have been some glimmers of hope, like new ideas in crowdsourcing, and software that lets you download film and online video content to your television. But my hopes for new media ideas lost their sheen when I was walking through the South by Southwest trade show, where many innovative companies show off their newest products and give schwag seekers like me free t-shirts and pens.

As I checked out the exhibits with John Keefe, WNYC‘s Executive Producer of News, and we came across the New York Times table. They weren’t trying to sell us the NY Times Adobe Reader application or tell us what they’re developing for the iPad. No, they were trying to sell us the daily, home-delivered New York Times newspaper. And the display? A yellowed copy of the paper from October 15, 2009. No wonder the outlook seems grim from where we’re sitting.

For a comprehensive report on the media today and where things are heading, check out the annual Pew Study The State of the News Media 2010.