I’ll admit I’m no Einstein when it comes to math. Heck, I work with words for a living. Give me letters over numbers any day.

Which means there’s a better-than-good chance that what I’m about to say has no basis in reality: Richard Parsons, the head of old media establishment Time Warner, is quoted this morning saying “The notion that the new kids on the block have taken over is a false notion.” He’s, of course, referring to Google and YouTube.

I can’t decide whether this is a quote of desperation or one of denial. Heck, it’s probably a bit of both.

The reality is that, for the most part, old media really is on life support. By old media, I mean those that haven’t adapted to the evolution their customers have made toward interactivity, openness and community. The old media need only look so far as Redmond and the losing battle Microsoft is waging against open source software to see how this plays out.

Which brings me back to my remedial math skills. Could Google/YouTube just make this whole old media vs new media issue a moot point by going all Gordon Gecko on Parsons’s derrière?

Old media turns combative against new media | Technology | Internet | Reuters