People try to read a lot into what 'digital' means. It's just

Jeff Bewkes once declared with clarity: “People try to read a lot into what digital means. It’s just another platform. There are very attractive things that happen if you invest in content—movies, TV production, acquired series, specialty genres, digital distribution of our magazines, sports rights.” In this reflection, the media leader strips away the illusion that technology itself is the treasure, and directs our eyes to the eternal truth: it is not the vessel that matters most, but what the vessel carries.

At the heart of his words lies the reminder that digital is not destiny, but delivery. Humanity has always created new ways of carrying stories, from papyrus to parchment, from print to radio, from television to streaming. Each age has believed its platform to be revolutionary, but the true revolution has always been in the content—the tales, the songs, the dramas, the voices—that live within those forms. Bewkes’ wisdom is the call to focus not on the shell, but on the spirit within.

History bears witness to this truth. When Johannes Gutenberg introduced the printing press, it was hailed as a marvel of mechanics. Yet its true power was not the press itself, but the content it spread: the Bible, the philosophies of the Enlightenment, the revolutions of political thought. So too with radio, which was once only static until voices, music, and stories filled its waves. The tool is only as valuable as the message it carries.

Bewkes also names the domains where content shines most: movies, TV production, series, sports. These are not trivial amusements, but the shared myths of our age. Just as Homer sang the Iliad to bind the Greeks, and just as gladiatorial games once bound Rome in spectacle, today film, television, and sport bind vast societies together, giving common ground to millions. Platforms change; myths endure.

The deeper meaning of his words is also a warning. When societies worship the platform above the content, they risk emptiness. The digital age tempts us to marvel at speed, reach, and novelty, while forgetting that what people seek is not the glow of a screen, but the nourishment of story, knowledge, and connection. The platform is the body; the content is the soul. Without soul, the body is lifeless, no matter how finely built.

Examples abound in our own time. Companies that poured fortunes into technology without vision—chasing “digital” for its own sake—have often faded. Meanwhile, creators who invested in stories, characters, and ideas have endured across every medium. Star Wars lived from film reels to VHS to streaming. Shakespeare, though born of the stage, lives in print, cinema, and digital archive. The vessel changed, but the content remained immortal.

Therefore, let us take this lesson into our own age: do not be dazzled by platforms alone. Whether you are a creator, a leader, or a seeker of truth, remember that the essence lies in the message, the story, the wisdom you carry. Invest in content. Build works of meaning, and let them live in whatever platform tomorrow may bring. For platforms will pass, as papyrus and parchment passed, but the content of the human spirit—our art, our truth, our love of story—will endure beyond every age of man.