EconSM: Social media meets news
This was a great topic and a very interesting discussion, though it didn’t break new territory. One of the key themes was the perennial of what will be the business models for “serious” journalism. While the panellists all referred in some form to the “clinical depression” that the newspaper industry is finding itself in, there was also much optimism on the opportunity of creating and distributing quality content at low cost. The panel was heavily weighted to establishment players, giving the discussion the tone of incumbents. What was touched on but not really covered was the business models supporting the nexus of mainstream and social media. There are a wealth of new models for monetizing participation that go beyond plying people with ads, though not a word on these. Moderating user generated content was another key issue, with legal issues, taste, and keeping value for audiences. However the mechanics and costs of moderation were not covered. As with the last panel, we got some solid discussion, but few answers. Selected comments from the panellists:
“The zeitgeist in the newsroom is awful. We need to stop bellyaching and do something about it.”
“Journalists got snotty about bloggers. They deserved the slaps they got. We think there’s a place for traditional journalism to go against social-generated media. They’re complementary. The feedback mechanism of the blogosphere is pretty good for filtering user-generated news. As long as it’s transparent and relevant, it’s good to have it out there.”
“Newspapers have to stop rolling over and playing dead.”
“I was speaking to the 12-year old who runs Google News; he was saying that people don’t care where people news come from. I think people care where news comes from. It’s not just established brands; there are some great new brands, like PaidContent.”
“People still want a high quality product. Younger people still read the New York Times, just from the website rather than the paper.”
“The cost of putting up our site is so low, but we’re still high quality. It should be very easy to cover that in sales.”
“Google News is a parasite on the system, but it’s a useful parasite. Sam Zell is completely wrong.”
“We feel that free is better. We want to be part of the conversation. I wouldn’t dream of not being free.” (Referring to the WSJ’s new venture D: All Things Digital.)
Kara Swisher, Wall Street Journal
“Our zeitgeist – is we had one – is pretty good. NPR has grown substantially while other news organizations have struggled. There’s still room for fact-based reporting and serious news.”
“We have a unique business model, including money from listeners, donations, and just 10% from federal government.”
“There’s difference between information and news. There’s lots of news out there. There’s a sense that we can get rid of journalists because there’s plenty of information out there. I don’t believe that. The shrinkage of the space for serious news is a problem. It’s a dangerous thing for our country that newspapers are clinically depressed.”
“We pre-review everything before it goes up.”
“The economics behind serious journalism is pretty punishing at the moment.”
“It’s a great time for engaging in society. But it’s tough for smaller society, and that’s a challenge for civil society.”
Ken Stern, CEO, NPR
“The newspaper advertising market is declining. The good news is that online advertising is increasing. There doesn’t appear to be any rainbow on the horizon. That’s why we’re diversifying and rebalancing.”
“There’s absolutely a role for serious journalism. The more noise that’s out there, the more there’s a role for quality journalism. We’re not scaling back our newsroom; we’re ramping up our efforts. This isn’t going away.”
“The New York Times makes a lot of money – this is not a business on its last legs.”
“Only the major news organizations moderate comments before they go up. We moderate not just to keep things civil, but also to ensure that content adds value to readers.”
“Brand matters. We want to embrace the Newsvines and Diggs. The more widely it’s distributed, the better for us. They all come back to us anyway.”
“We love Google. We get almost half our traffic through search.”
“This is the best of times. All of these new platforms have opened up new ways to make news available. Every day there is a new way to communicate with our readers: blogs, videos, mobile…”
Vivian Schiller, SVP and GM, New York Times
“We have 10 million unique visitors, and because we give local news based on zip codes, that allows us to charge more for advertising. We started off with plans to have customized news for every zip code. But there isn’t enough news for this, so we have had to turn to social media.”
“There’s a lot of things going on in our community. There’s a role for civic society to provide this information. It’s important for us to have news gathering in the community.”
“We’ve seen people put up multiple identities, put up defamatory material, and
“I think the top newspapers will be OK. But for the rest of the newspapers, the regionals, the newsroom staff is leaving, subs are dropping, it’s not looking good.”
Rich Skrenta, CEO, Topix
Moderated by Tad Smith, CEO, Reed Business
Some more blog post on this panel and others today:
John Blossom, Shore: EconSM 2007: Social Media Meets News
Junto Boyz: ECONSM CONFERENCE… SOCIAL NETWORKING NEWS
Fresh WordPress Installation: @ EconSM: Focusing on the Health of Journalism in the Social Media Age
Paul Kedrosky: Hanging at EconSM: Music, News, and Contrarianism
Christopher Carfi: EconSM: Positive Blog Buzz Predicted Breakout Shows
