BackMore new media musings
Instant and authoritative pieces are in the realm of the possible
Premium
Everyone is an expert on everything from the national flag to Chettinad cuisine to fifth-degree differential equations.
I blame Google for this.
By making us all stupid, it has allowed even the stupidest to sound like an expert. In the land of the dumb, he who clicks the fastest is King.
Stir in our reducing attention spans and the desire of newsrooms around the world to grab eyeballs (through click bait even if it is couched as high-context opinion writing) and you have a potent mix.
At the Mint newsroom, we often speak of how our aim is to be the most authoritative voice on the issues and topics we cover. This isn’t easy in a journalistic environment where most reporters and editors do not have institutional and historical context, lack even basic math skills (required because numbers tell stories), and are happy to speak to dial-a-quote sources or flacks with agendas instead of real experts who are not always willing to speak to not-so-bright people.
At the same time, I’d like the Mint newsroom to also produce journalism of the sort that generates traffic for the website—not slideshows featuring Sunny Leone, but interesting and relevant pieces that fall within the box we have defined for ourselves.
It is a virtual box, a big one, and its sides are porous, but it is still a box.
I believe it is possible to do both. Instant and authoritative pieces are in the realm of the possible. Mint’s quick edits—our page 1 opinion pieces that are all of 160 words long—achieve this on most days (or at least, many days).
But doing this requires well-connected subject specialists who can write engagingly and write often (at least twice a day). The trouble, as anyone who has run a newsroom can vouch for, is that expertise, felicity with words (even if the emphasis is on communication, not high-literature), and industry are rarely found in one individual.
Still, there is an interesting business model in this. If I were to set up a new media venture today, I would hire the 12 smartest writers and data journalists I know (and motivate them in every way possible to deliver three to five high quality pieces every day) and the five sharpest technologists I don’t. That’s probably all it would take.
It’s the kind of model several others are experimenting with—only, are their writers really smart?
R. Sukumar is editor, Mint.
Comments are welcome at feedback@livemint.com
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
