And the reasons why those lies make us blind to the true opportunities we have.
Lie No. 1. The news we produce is valuable.
The Truth: Not really, at least in economic terms. Once we publish the news, everyone has access to it. For example, take the headline, “Michael Jackson is dead.” The first news organization that published that information had it as an exclusive for about 30 seconds. Then the news was available freely everywhere.
Lie No. 2. Journalists are professionals, and no one else can do what we do.
The Truth: Journalists are generalists who have communication skills. In the digital world, lots of people have shown they can do what we do despite having no journalism training or experience. Experts with specialized knowledge on technical subjects can bypass journalistic media and go directly to the public. In addition, there are YouTubers and writers who are equally clever and creative as journalists. They are capturing the audience that journalists and news organizations used to claim as their own.
Lie No. 3: The public needs and wants our reporting on public policy and public affairs.
The Truth: Most people don’t care about public affairs most of the time. They live and work and entertain themselves without needing our help. Just look at the most popular stories on news websites aimed at general audiences. Stories about the government’s inner workings interest the public not a whit unless it keeps them from doing what they want or hits them directly in the pocketbook.
This lie has an analogy in healthy eating. Yes, people know they should eat their vegetables. But mostly they prefer to eat what they want when they want and not worry about whether it’s good for them–until they have a heart attack.
Lie No. 4. Journalists are protectors of free speech and pillars of the Fourth Estate, holding the powerful accountable.
The Truth: Journalists and news organizations have never spent much time or money on this kind of journalism. Truth be told, even in the supposed Golden Age of Journalism before the internet, journalists spent much of their time on routine tasks, such as following up on press releases, crime reports, and news conferences. Or they covered topics in special sections whose content was dictated by advertisers, such as travel, entertainment, health, dining, and automotive.
In my pre-internet days in the newsroom, about 5% to 10% of our personnel time was devoted to in-depth or investigative reporting. By this I mean reporting based on information that was difficult to obtain, analyze, organize, and prepare for publication.
(For the observations about the lies we tell ourselves, I am indebted to Robert Picard, “The Economics of Journalism and News Provision” in Tim Vos (ed.), Handbook of Communication Science: Journalism, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2018.)
Opportunities that we are missing
Because of these lies we tell ourselves, and some related misconceptions, news organizations are missing out on opportunities. We journalists have bought in to these lies for many years because we were shielded from reality.
We were blinded to the fact that quality journalism is a more like a public service than a business. Quality journalism has value for society as a whole, but it has a high cost. It is difficult to develop a market of users big enough to cover that cost. At large print and broadcast outlets with high production and distribution investments, it is unprofitable.
The audience for this kind of public service journalism is small, perhaps 15 to 20 percent of the population. But as media econonomics expert Robert Picard has pointed out, that segment of the public tends to be opinion leaders. They consume large amounts of news and tend to be active in the economic, social, and political communities. They are the people most likely to pay.
The opportunity lies with small, digital operations with a narrow editorial focus and a loyal audience. With their extremely low costs to distribute their journalism, they can be profitable.
Create value for users
For news organizations and journalists to survive, they have to create value for users rather than advertisers. They have to build a relationship of trust with their audiences. They have to take advantage of multimedia and digital tools to create engaging experiences for their audiences. They have to give people a reason to pay.
The public really does appreciate the role of journalism as the Fourth Estate, as the pillar of society that gives voice to the voiceless. And as mentioned above, a fraction of the public is ready and willing to pay for this kind of content when a news organization demonstrates its commitment to delivering value to society.
But to take advantage of the opportunities, we have to stop looking to the past and stop believing the lies we told ourselves about our own value and greatness. The opportunities lie in the future with new business models and new digital journalism.
What are some ways to create value? I have suggested some ideas above. If you want to know more specific examples, here are some links.
The message in the virus: differentiate or die
Why most publisher paywalls are destined to fail
Picard to publishers: get cozy with readers and users
The lies that we journalists tell ourselves