The Producer

Could we use a new source of news? I’m thinking we could.

I’m calling it “Maximum Planet,” a riff on the title of Suketu Mehta’s book “Maximum City.”

It’s my belief that the future is being written right now in places like Brazil, Nigeria, India, Malaysia and China. But we’re still looking at these places as outliers, suppliers and backwaters. We don’t see them for what they are.

They are the new leaders. They see the world from a different perspective. And they’re combining the tools of the information age and global commerce with a massive advantage in human capital to chart their own course into the future.

This isn’t a new idea. It has been widely observed that the last century was the “American Century” and that this century will be the “Pacific Century.” But this shift — assuming it is actually happening — has not been fully reflected in the media. And, anyway, I’d argue that this will be much more than the “Pacific” century. There are interesting ideas and developments on every continent.

(I do want to note that NPR — where I work — is an exception to this observation. The company has long displayed a commitment to chronicling the lives of people around the world. It is one of many stand-out features of America’s premier broadcast news organization.)

I think it’s finally time for a news organization with a holistic view of the world and an innovative approach to content creation and distribution.

I’m imagining something like The Economist for the new media age, with the addition of cultural coverage akin to that found in the NYT and the human tone of NPR.

Some people are moving in this direction, from biggies such as the NYT and NPR to upstarts such as GlobalPost and GroundReport. But they aren’t quite at the place I’m imagining, yet.