Martin Nisenholtz, former chief digital officer of the New York Times who retired from NYT at age 55 in December 2011, will speak at the New School tonight on the plight of the nation's newspapers.

nisenholtz"Media Disruption: The New Normal," is the topic for the session starting at 6:30 p.m. A promotion for the event notes that NYT-owned Boston Globe was "sold for a fraction" of its former worth as was the Washington Post.

The Globe and related properties were sold this year for $70 million to John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox, and the Post was sold for $250M to financier Jeff Bezos of Nash Holdings.

U.S. newspaper ad revenues plunged from $49 billion in 2006 to $23 billion last year (including $3B in online revenues).
Nisenholtz, who led the introduction of NYTimes.com in 1996, remains as a senior advisor to the NYT Co. and is an adjunct associate professor, Columbia Journalism School.

He was CEO of NYT Digital from 1999-2005 when he was promoted to chief digital officer, NYT Co.

He founded the Online Publishers Assn. in 2002 and serves on its board. Nisenholtz has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. from its Annenberg School. He is on its alumni board.

Spiers, Smith, Islam Also Speak

Others on the program at the Theresa Lang Center, 13th St. and Ave. of the Americas, are Elizabeth Spiers, acting editorial director of Flavorpill Productions and former editor-in-chief, The New York Observer; Ben Smith, editor-in-chief, Buzzfeed, and Shafqat Islam, co-founder and CEO, NewsCred.

Moderator is Max Robins, contributor to Techonomy Media and former VP and executive director, industry programs, The Paley Center.

Another media event tonight is "Marketing Yourself as a Freelancer" hosted by the New York Financial Writers' Assn. at the Playwright's Celtic Pub, Eight ave. and 45-46 Sts.

Speakers are Allison Hemming of the Hired Gun Talent Agency and author of Work It! How to Get Ahead and Land a Job in Any Economy, and Jessica Eule, executive director of Education, Mediabistro, which has a database of more than 1,100 writers.