Comments on: Are print magazines a safer bet than newspapers?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:01:53 +0000

Very interesting points all round… I think Wendy is on to something by highlighting that there is a shift in expectation from online news. Current usage trends would point to network recommendation, immediacy, and brevity being the main factors in popular content. Of course, everyone (including me) will cry out that we need longer form, well-researched pieces – but are audiences reading them? I’d love to hear from a publisher that is seeing an upswing in consumption of that type of content!

It’s all very well saying that a magazine editor has an in-depth understanding of his/her audience – but what if a) it can be replicated by a collection of readers who now blog, or b) the audience doesn’t value that anymore! And I’m certainly not saying that the latter (or even the former) is a “good” thing in terms of quality content creation.

Potentially there might be a demand adjustment at some point, as audiences lose the benefit of the “quality” content they used to consume.

By: Dan Thorton

Dan Thorton — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:27:07 +0000

Hi Wendy,
Many thanks for the comment, and I agree that there is a huge amount of value in the vetting of the journalistic process.
In fact, online it’s more important than ever for journalists to be interpreting and adding value to the huge wealth of realtime information.
I’m just not convinced that there’s a benefit to having that editorial screening in print rather than digital format, or that it adds enough value for me to pick print over digital in it’s absence.
I do think that there needs to be some reward for online journalists holding themselves to higher standards, and it’s not yet clear whether the business models will support enough quality content in the long term, but that’s why lots of experimentation is immediately needed!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:02:27 +0000

My first reaction was to agree with Neil Perkin (and I still do). I also like the “vetting” that goes on in the old-fashioned form of print journalism — but I think that’s a sign of my age (over 50). My generation wants my news screened, with a quality check. I’m willing to wait for that quality. My sons’ generation wants instantaneous news and they get annoyed with me when I ask them “But do you know if you can trust the source?” They are willing to sacrifice credibility for immediacy. I’m not.

Great dialogue and great post. By the way, here’s more info on the technology that led to the discussion about full-color electronic readers: http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.aspx?id=10068.

By: Dan Thorton

Dan Thorton — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:14:14 +0000

Actually, this could be the first time we actually disagree on something!

I left out the editorial/audience relationship mainly because it’s not something inherent to magazines – good magazine editors and editorial teams definitely have an immense knowledge of their subjects and audiences, but then again, community founders and admins, bloggers, etc all have the same types of access, if not more…

And that’s also not taking into account the ability for friend filtering – and those within you Dunbar number which share your interest – for instance in my case, motorcycling, are even more likely to know exactly which bikes I prefer etc. And they’re not trying to also cater for another 20,000 or 100,000 other people at the same time!

Shared passion is essential to a good magazine, but it’s even more essential to a self-forming group around a shared interest…

It’s why I have a slightly problem with Dave Cushman’s latest post on finding something you own which can’t be disrupted by a community – much of my work is more focused on aiding and building on those exact disruptions to be best placed for the future…

By: neilperkin

neilperkin — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:01:26 +0000

Interesting post Dan. I think the other great advantage that magazines have which is not mentioned (Jeff didn’t talk about this either) is the insight that magazine editors and owners have of their audiences. Jeff is right when he says that magazines are the original community medium – but few people know their audience as well as an editor does. And I’m not talking about the kind of insight that comes from data or numbers – more the unique insight that comes from shared passion, in depth understanding, the subtleties that come from really understanding tone, interests, priorities. You’ll know all this, but I think it is a strength that is unique and often underplayed.