Old media meets new media with today's addition of Washington Post CEO Donald Graham to the Facebook Board of Directors. VentureBeat writes that Graham is a long time confidant of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Graham, the son of deceased Washington press corps matriarch Katharine Graham, is also on the board of the Pulitzer Prize, which this week announced it would open its award to writing on the web (so long as it is published on a significant news gathering site!).
Graham was heavily criticized in 1994 for secretly lobbying US politicians for special treatment in a global trade treaty while writing controversial editorials about the treaty in the paper without disclosing the lobbying activity. He later apologized.
Graham joins the tiny Facebook board, along with only CEO Zuckerberg, Netscape founder Marc Andreessen and two investors in the company Jim Breyer of Accel Partners and Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital and Founders Fund.
Limiting Pulitzer consideration to "significance" web sites, secret lobbying and lost editorial credibility all make us wonder whether Graham will have a positive or a negative impact on Facebook. Zuckerberg offered in the company's press release some vacuous CEO language around Graham's joining: "He has made The Washington Post Company one of the most valued and respected education and media companies while making society more open and understanding. What I most admire about Don is his commitment to build around this purpose - and not just a business."
Disingenuousness is the price most companies pay for joining the ranks of the media elite, old or new, but we hope that Graham will support Facebook's innovative inclinations as well.
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I am a little disappointed that Graham chose to defect to Facebook instead of trying to weather the tough times in the Newspaper industry for a couple of reasons. First, the newspaper industry needs old-school veterans to lead the way into the digital age. I know that doesn't make sense to some of you who think those companies need young, fresh blood to survive, but it's true. Second, what could Graham possibly bring to Facebook other than to teach them to be more political and elitist? I suppose he brings a certain level of mainstream credibility, but so what?
I don't think this move is going to help either the Washington Post or Facebook.