Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman and publisher of the New York Times, likened the disruption in media due to the Internet to the painful, but necessary, process of an infant “growing in front teeth.” The transition for the world’s most powerful media companies has been difficult, requiring rapid restructuring of business models and scraping to hire employees with new skill sets.
But even though journalism is now heralded as among the most difficult professions to survive in, the tone of the forum at Harvard’s Institute of Politics on disruption in journalism was not pessimistic. The optimism derived from how curating and creating high quality multimedia content provides an avenue for excellent journalism to persist. The members of the panel seemed to agree that technologies were not destroying the largest media empires, but rather enabling quality content to reach new heights.
First off, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong and Sulzberger seemed rather unworried that crowd-sourced journalism would sweep their brands under the rug. Armstrong cited the fact that “70 percent of Web users access 15 sites a month” to point out that brand on the Web matters. Sulzberger used an anecdote of a discussion with a Chinese military general who said she visited the New York Times every morning to exemplify the reach of his company’s brand, and added that his paper was moving quickly to make monetization in other countries easier to meet demand. Neither seemed worried that their readership would diminish because readers would need the news faster. Rather, they seemed focused on retaining and growing readership based on increasing the quality of their news.
To deliver new quality, AOL and the New York Times have clearly invested in tech. Tech is what disrupted the industry, and tech is what both are using to stay current and to raise the level of their content. Armstrong used the example of TechCrunch and Disrupt SF 2013 to show how AOL has remained on the cutting edge of content delivery. While AOL has had trouble with its local news service, Patch, the attempt fits into AOL’s efforts to readapt itself and push limits. Armstrong said the threat of Patch to local papers raised investment and standards in local newspapers. Sulzberger brought up the multimedia feature ‘Snowfall’ to exemplify how the New York Times is changing what readers see online.
The hunger to stay on top was also apparent in the types of people AOL is trying to hire. New journalists, according to Tim Armstrong, “need to understand the platforms.” New skill sets are required to manage sources and deliver content that will keep readers interested. Journalists need to be able to sift social media for quality sources. Sulzberger commented that “experience matters more than ever” and that the “basics” of creating a strong piece are essential. International news organizations are maintaining their bureaus, like the New York Times bureau in Egypt, so that the high quality reporting readers demand will continue.
As media solidifies its footing on the Web, both mastering technologies and attracting more customers to online subscriptions, the panelists seemed to think that journalism need not worry that quality will disappear. When the front teeth finally grow in, the consensus was that tech and media would only raise reporting to new heights.
Photo Credits: Paul Lisker for the HPR