6 ms·

I think it’s probably just a matter of looking at people’s/organization’s incentive structures. If incentives are aligned, things are _probably_ ok. “The media

I think it’s probably just a matter of looking at people’s/organization’s incentive structures. If incentives are aligned, things are _probably_ ok. “The media” is incentivized to either have the largest amount of traffic (ad revenue) or the most amount of money coming in from subscriptions. Both those incentive models encourage sensationalized media, since that causes people to feel they “need to keep tabs on what’s going on”

52-6F-62 7y ago
In my experience, it's sales and audience retention who are concerned with those figures. Editorial is concerned with the content. They may A/B headlines, but not stories (let alone facts). It's important to note what outlets classify themselves as entertainment versus journalism when pressed on an inaccuracy.
- sjy 7y ago
  Editors are absolutely looking at page view metrics, “resulting in the creation and promotion of content that does little to augment informed discourse and is glaringly lacking in news value.” https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21670811.2018.1504626 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21670811.2018.1...
  - 52-6F-62 7y ago
    I think you’re arguing against something I didn’t say. Editorial doesn’t live in a hole where metrics are unknown to them, but their primary focus is the content. I had a look at your linked paper. It was a lot of opinion and questionable experience. There is an enormous amount of context missing and the paper seems to have been written looking for a problem and attempting to prove it versus an observation that was derived purely out of experience. It’s my birthday this weekend and I’m meeting family soon so I don’t have the time to do a deep dive right now, but there are many factors I’d like to point out that may help provide context for that paper. One is the consolidation of media in Canada. The National Post is an outlet founded by the infamous Conrad Black after the Financial Post to legitimize his further right-wing viewpoints as well as provide a national voice for them. It’s traditionally been known for being factually accurate in its news reporting, but has increasingly become polarizing and filled with shock writers and hardline opinion columns as one of its early goals was to insert a new, further right political voice in Canadian media and to convert readership to that viewpoint. As part of that mission the Postmedia group (National Post’s parent organization) has been purchasing small town and city news outlets including the Hamilton Spectator central to the paper. The purchased newsrooms have been reduced in size and much of the papers’ content is syndicated from the parent source. The approach is eerily similar to that of Sinclair Media in the United States.the parent company is also known for its less scrupulous business practices. One outlets practices does not make an industry or profession, no matter the country or region that the article focuses on. The article you linked also contains this: > “Journalists in the past were far removed from what was happening on sales etc. but now a journalist’s story is linked to things like Google links, social media platforms – and when there is no readership a journalist would have failed the organization” (interviewee, Tiso Black Star Group, 11 April 2017) The first part of that seeming crucible is exactly what I noted. The second has never been untrue. Those journalists are not typically fired for their stories not driving readership, they’d be reassigned. Publishing has always been about readership. I’m not sure where the shock comes from there. Journalists still don’t sit staring at the monitors. At least in my experience they have too bloody much to do because they’re short-staffed as corporate holders are looking to save money because owning a media outlet isn’t the hot “asset de la mode” it was in the 90s.

52-6F-62 7y ago

In my experience, it's sales and audience retention who are concerned with those figures. Editorial is concerned with the content. They may A/B headlines, but not stories (let alone facts). It's important to note what outlets classify themselves as entertainment versus journalism when pressed on an inaccuracy.

sjy 7y ago
Editors are absolutely looking at page view metrics, “resulting in the creation and promotion of content that does little to augment informed discourse and is glaringly lacking in news value.” https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21670811.2018.1504626 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21670811.2018.1...
- 52-6F-62 7y ago
  I think you’re arguing against something I didn’t say. Editorial doesn’t live in a hole where metrics are unknown to them, but their primary focus is the content. I had a look at your linked paper. It was a lot of opinion and questionable experience. There is an enormous amount of context missing and the paper seems to have been written looking for a problem and attempting to prove it versus an observation that was derived purely out of experience. It’s my birthday this weekend and I’m meeting family soon so I don’t have the time to do a deep dive right now, but there are many factors I’d like to point out that may help provide context for that paper. One is the consolidation of media in Canada. The National Post is an outlet founded by the infamous Conrad Black after the Financial Post to legitimize his further right-wing viewpoints as well as provide a national voice for them. It’s traditionally been known for being factually accurate in its news reporting, but has increasingly become polarizing and filled with shock writers and hardline opinion columns as one of its early goals was to insert a new, further right political voice in Canadian media and to convert readership to that viewpoint. As part of that mission the Postmedia group (National Post’s parent organization) has been purchasing small town and city news outlets including the Hamilton Spectator central to the paper. The purchased newsrooms have been reduced in size and much of the papers’ content is syndicated from the parent source. The approach is eerily similar to that of Sinclair Media in the United States.the parent company is also known for its less scrupulous business practices. One outlets practices does not make an industry or profession, no matter the country or region that the article focuses on. The article you linked also contains this: > “Journalists in the past were far removed from what was happening on sales etc. but now a journalist’s story is linked to things like Google links, social media platforms – and when there is no readership a journalist would have failed the organization” (interviewee, Tiso Black Star Group, 11 April 2017) The first part of that seeming crucible is exactly what I noted. The second has never been untrue. Those journalists are not typically fired for their stories not driving readership, they’d be reassigned. Publishing has always been about readership. I’m not sure where the shock comes from there. Journalists still don’t sit staring at the monitors. At least in my experience they have too bloody much to do because they’re short-staffed as corporate holders are looking to save money because owning a media outlet isn’t the hot “asset de la mode” it was in the 90s.