Excerpts from today's New York Times:

WANTED Digital media genius to guide a nimble - or at least we like to think we are - media giant through transformation from analog to digital in all its gory glory.

JOB DESCRIPTION To take all the stuff we produce for other formats, like TV or print or film, and figure out how to shovel it onto the Internet in a way that makes money.

QUALIFICATIONS The ideal candidate might also have ideas for ways to make a few dollars online that don't directly stem from our so-called traditional media businesses. (You know - like that whole user-generated thing that the kids are doing. P.S., loved the video clips about how Mentos and Diet Coke mixed together create a chemical reaction - maybe we can turn it into a prime-time special or a theme park ride financed by these brands?)

COMPENSATION Pretty sweet for as long as you last.

RETIREMENT BENEFITS Well, don't plan on it.

THE want ad above is a goof, of course, but it roughly sums up the state of play among big media companies' digital operations.

In the last few weeks, there has been a stampede of change involving the top Internet executives at big media companies. ... Jonathan F. Miller, the chairman and chief executive of AOL, was replaced at that Time Warner division by Randy Falco, a 31-year veteran of NBC Universal; Ross Levinsohn, the wunderkind who helped Rupert Murdoch snag MySpace last year, ... is being replaced by a cousin, Peter Levinsohn, a Fox TV veteran; and Larry Kramer, who built and sold the site MarketWatch, left his job as digital overseer at CBS after the arrival of Quincy Smith, a former investment banker, as his boss.

MTV Networks, meanwhile, recently appointed Mika Salmi, the founder of Atom Entertainment, a Web media company that it acquired, as its latest digital honcho, and NBC Universal has been making all sorts of online moves under the auspices of Beth Comstock, who came from owner General Electric last year to head all things digital there.

Has an archetypal digital genius yet emerged amid all this movement? Not exactly. The screenwriter William Goldman famously said of Hollywood's hit machinery that "nobody knows anything." When it comes to the digital machinations of media companies, the new tag line may be that "nobody knows everything."

[There are] ... roughly three baskets of digital media overseers are in the market.

The first is the well-versed old-media executive who both knows how to navigate corporate corridors and run a business but may not be the most Webby person on the squad.

The second basket contains the Web stars ... who [have] a venture capital background. These stars know how to identify and build Web businesses early.

Then there is the less common "general corporate athlete", who has a track record of getting things done in a complex company but is neither a seasoned operating executive nor a Web head.

In a way, the tenure of a chief digital genius weirdly mirrors the fickle nature of the Web itself: hits can appear very quickly, but only a few stick around for the long haul.

If you are interested in this thread, it is worth it to read the whole article >>