Columns
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AI is now powering an upheaval of the search economy that could devastate news publishers desperately needing good news. For the first time since it became the world’s largest search engine in 2000, Google’s dominance in the search market is facing a serious threat. One of the challengers, Perplexity, shoots back short, AI-generated responses to direct questions. Is it perfect? No. Is it pretty useful? Of course. But it comes at a terrible cost to publishers. more
Most sales gurus agree that about 98% of all sales are not made on the first call. Sometimes the customer says “no.” That’s when the selling starts. If you can turn a no into a yes, you make the sale. There are a lot of reasons prospective advertisers say no. more
A yesterday business falls back on “well this is how we’ve always done it, so this is how we should continue doing it.” And for much of American history, this strategy has been enough for plenty of businesses to succeed. But in the last 20 years, we’ve seen a growing class of disruptors who take the old model and find a way to change it for tomorrow. more
Discipline serves as the foundation for creativity to thrive. The key is consistently maintaining focus on creating vibrant communities through insightful reporting while having the creativity to celebrate the positivity within the community. This ensures the development of resourceful content and attracting revenue sponsorship opportunities. more
Your website is where all your focus needs to be in 2024 and beyond. It is the connection to your local audiences — both consumer and business. It won’t go away, so how do we make it the best and most profitable it can be? more
If you read these editorials regularly, you know more about me than you want or need. Something you probably don’t know about me, though, is that I absolutely hate politics. This makes it hard for my dear husband, who is a political news junkie, when he is banished to his office to watch one of his favorite TV hosts, Nicole Wallace. The political season(s) bring on another of my least favorite things — polls. All it takes to cue my eye-roll is the phrase, “According to the _____ poll." more
In this column for Editor & Publisher magazine, Michael Bugeja, a distinguished professor of journalism at Iowa State University, writes: "Journalists must stop worrying about impartiality when dealing with outright racist, sexist or autocratic comments and posts. And it is time to stop using the cliché 'dog whistle' and then searching for a source to interpret it.” more
After the Los Angeles Times layoffs were announced, respected author and professor Jeff Jarvis declared, “It may finally be time to give up on old journalism and its legacy industry.” In this column, Steven Waldman, chair of the Rebuild Local News Coalition and co-founder of Report for America, says he disagrees that "it’s time to dispense with 'legacy' or 'old' media." Furthermore, Waldman believes even generalizing about “old media” is absurd. more
Today, with an almost overwhelming amount of information we must sift through on news sites, social media and third-party aggregation sites, like Apple and Google News, it’s nice to have information curated and summarized for us and delivered to our inboxes. That kind of sounds like a newspaper. more
Billionaires are proving that throwing money at our industry isn’t the answer. Sooner or later, the money runs out or the billionaires become jaded. And the resources are cut. So, what’s the answer to the dilemma of what will save our news media industry? I wish I had the magic bullet, but I don’t. Somewhere in there, however, lies the mandate we have all been given in the First Amendment — to protect a free press as a watchdog on government accountability. more
E&P columnist Doug Phares isn't expecting huge workplace changes during 2024. Instead, as he gazes into his crystal ball, he's predicting change will come with small, gradual steps. Read his predictions about pricing, AI and the job market. more
Richard E. Brown, senior director of retention for The Daily Beast and a columnist with Editor & Publisher, is convinced that 2024 will be a year dedicated to strengthening the bond between advertisers and audiences, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration. He says this commitment will ensure that "the future of local news media remains vibrant and aligned with the diverse needs of the communities served. Furthermore, emerging trends complement this dedication, promising continued growth and a positive, sustainable trajectory." more
Guy Tasaka, founder and managing partner of Tasaka Digital, suggests that newspapers have spent the past 15-plus years solving the wrong problem because "we didn’t understand our business model. The bad news was we were improving at solving the wrong problem and accelerating ourselves out of business." more
Managing personnel can be a fraught subject even in the simplest of circumstances. Specifically, it can be hard to balance your desire to do right by the company with your desire to do right by your people. This case study from 1969 offers a lot of insight into how employers should approach managing today. more
Today is a cynical time, and trust is challenging for all media. But what if you could rebuild the trust in the community toward your newspaper, including all the diverse parts of the community that most media didn’t care enough about in the past? Here are five steps that will begin to get you there. more
Are we all going to be replaced by computers? There's an understandable fear of artificial intelligence in journalism, with computers quickly able to do many of the basic writing tasks that until recently were the exclusive domain of us humans. Here are some AI-powered tools that can benefit reporters and editors right now, while we all still have jobs. more
Last January, I wrote “My top five predictions for 2023” in the editorial, based on what I had been seeing and expected to continue. They were all “no-brainers,” such as “The pace of business and life will continue to be swift and incessant” and “Trust will continue to be crucial to the health of news media.” more
Fear is an inherently defensive feeling. It can lead to hunkering down and weathering the storm, but staying safe and growing are two very different things. In business, these two actions may sometimes be mutually exclusive. more
Mobile apps are now used more than mobile web browsers. eMarketer estimated that in 2022, the average American spent over four hours a day on mobile devices, and over 90% of that time spent was using a mobile app. This ubiquity of mobile apps in everyday digital habits presents both risks and opportunities for news publishers. more
When building digital newsrooms, we are all pioneers, no matter how much experience we've had over these past decades. And even after COVID drove the trend to home office and shared desks, as digital continues to evolve, there are no easy answers, roadmaps or owner’s manual. Sometimes, however, the answers reveal themselves in an “aha” moment. more
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