To fly you need us Supermen beneath your wings

I hear The Face is coming back. As a magazine (though most likely digital,  free or subscription only). I wish the team good luck.

I like to think of the role of print editors these days in terms of glider pilots.

The more skilled the pilot, the more thermals he may find, the higher he may, in the short term, rise.

If the conditions are right he might even perform a few impressive aerobatics.

If the weather is less than ideal he won't be taking risks.

He'll be doing everything he can to keep that bird in the sky just a little bit longer.

Every media company with print interests believes it has better gliders and pilots than the other guys.

So they can stay in the air just a little longer than the rest.
(Image courtesy)

They all started a long way up, with the advantage of being flown there by a powered plane - all the advantages mass media used to enjoy; route to market; distribution, access to exclusives; unavoidable advertising; monopoly on publication etc.

Now they have a slingshot to fire a new launch into the air. Staying up for long periods requires ever greater skill.

Meanwhile we've all learned to fly - without the need for your planes or gliders. And we take that Superman ability and carry aloft Twitter and Facebook, Youtube and  flickr, eBay and Google.
Together we can lift anything, raise it as high as we choose.

And from up here we watch the old world push gliders off cliffs.

Good luck and good fortune to all who fly them. Those who soar will do so by convincing enough of us there is a good reason to come to your glider and support it on our Superman shoulders.

To coin a sacherine phrase: We are the wind beneath your wings.