Publishers are not selling content
Nobody wakes up wanting to pay for "journalism" or "a good story". That's just not how it works.
Repeat this to yourself a thousand times:
"The strongest media organizations I've encountered understand that people don't seek out journalism for journalism's sake - they want solutions to problems, ways to improve their lives, recognition, community."
I didn't write those words. Patrick Boehler did (and I only found them thanks to Mattia Peretti's awesome newsletter) but I agree 100 percent with them.
Once publishers start believing that they sell journalism they are not only limiting themselves to being in the "content business" - they are also wrong.
A little less than a decade ago I read about which I keep banging on about: "The Content Trap" by Harvard Professor Bharat Anand.
Yes, news reporting was a huge part of the value. But the other non-newsy and even the non-journalistic parts of the newspaper were also important.
The newspaper was never about content or stories. It was about providing immense value.
Anand's book is about exactly what Patrick writes: Publishers are not selling content - we are providing value.
Let's repeat that: Publishers are not selling content - we are providing value.
And if that value is worth paying for, some people will do that.Nobody wakes up wanting to pay for "journalism" or "a good story". That's just not how it works.
That is also why journalism must focus on the audience; their aspirations, dreams - and problems.That is also why the user needs movement started by Dmitry Shishkin and now carried by so many is so important.
And let me give the mic back to Patrick:
"This isn't about abandoning the craft of Journalism - the skills of critically and empathically seeing, observing, understanding, and conveying remain vital. But these skills must serve genuine human needs, not institutional self-preservation."
I with I had written those words 😉
This article was originally published as a post on LinkedIn.