The Journalistas Entrepreneur:Response to DisruptionConfronting AusterityEuropean Federation of Journalists / GPA-djpVienna, March 2014

Jane B. Singer @janebsinger

‘This used to be a newsroom’

Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio, USA (Photo from CJR)

‘EJ’ as response to disruptionAs we all well know ... Experienced journalists have lost or left their jobs. New journalists have struggled to find jobs at all –

or been disappointed (financially, professionally or both) by the ones they have found.

An open-access, low-cost platform beckons.

Necessity (including financial necessity) being the mother of invention, growing numbers of journalists have opted to create their own journalistic enterprises. The spirit is commendable. The challenges are many.

The entrepreneurial journalistThis person needs skills that include, but go well beyond, those of the typical freelancer.

The entrepreneur is a pitchman / woman, fundraiser, idea incubator, ad exec, circulation manager,

market analyst and more. Many ‘EJs’ report that less than halftheir time is

spent doingjournalisticwork.

Shifts in practice and perceptionChallenges include, among others: Developing, creating and sustaining

economically viable content ideas. Luring (and keeping) audiences for them –

audiences that must be actively nurtured, continuously engaged and often (given inevitably limited staff) enabled / encouraged to create meaningful content themselves.

… while identifying and obtaining revenue sources, then making wise spending calls.

… yet maintaining editorial autonomy.

Journalist entrepreneurFew of those tasks fit traditional practices and skill sets. More fundamentally, they tend to clash with perceptions about social roles and norms.

I’ll take justa few of them …

AudiencesTraditional journalism Aggregated, faceless, little / no meaningful contact Relationships? Job of marketing, circulation staffs Distinct from, and segregated from, advertisers

Entrepreneurial journalism Clear and precise understanding of audience Personal contact, attention, response Generally niche audience, must be actively courted Audience members often active contributors

AdvertisersTraditional journalism Autonomy norms forbid contact, influence Making money? Job of ad, marketing staffs Keeping advertisers sweet? So Not My Job

Entrepreneurial journalism Overlap between advertisers, audiences Advertisers also must be courted, nurtured Privacy concerns related to audience info Personal financial stake, need to recoup costs Yet autonomy norms haven’t gone away …

Content Traditional journalism Rests on professional skills, norms, resources Near-exclusive focus on editorial content value For news media, central civic role perception Competition is knowable and finite

Entrepreneurial journalism Institutional resource advantages disappear Demand for journalistic skills may not be high Niche audiences seek customization, connections Differentiation from current offerings, options Competition is unknowable and ever-expanding

ActivitiesTraditional journalism: Reporting, writing, editing Expanded a bit in response to Internet Expanded a bit more in response to social media

Entrepreneurial journalism: All those b-school things you never learned … And probably disdained New collaboration and partnerships become vital

ResourcesTraditional journalism: Emphasis on human resources: skills, experience … Resources within newsroom or obtained by it … Facilitated by connection to established brand Physical, financial resources rarely on j-radar

Entrepreneurial journalism: Skills and experience get you only so far … And key aspects of experience are missing Relationships of various kinds are key resource

Costs Traditional journalism: Newsroom big (typically biggest) expense Someone else worried about profit and loss … But underlying model stable, well-understood

Entrepreneurial journalism: News creation likely still biggest expense What else costs money and how much? … and where will the money come from? Massive instability throughout the sector Bottom line: coming in > going out, or bye-bye

RevenueTraditional journalism: Is there enough money to pay my salary? Good. Normative injunctions related to money exchange General lack of expertise on fiscal matters

Entrepreneurial journalism: Money is now your (chief) concern For what, exactly, are people willing to pay? A single revenue stream is seldom enough Everyone is chasing the same (few) sources Again, ‘separation of church, state’ still key to trust

Cultural change (again) The rise of entrepreneurial journalism – driven by necessity as much as opportunity, fueled by technological, economic, social and professional forces – poses now-familiar existential questions: Who am I (and what value do I offer)? What do I do (and what is my social role)? Which relationships must I nurture? What defines success (and survival)? What rewards might I reasonably expect?

Obviously, the answers (maybe even the questions) are different today than in the past.

Rethinking journalism Can journalists turn themselves into publishers in more than the literal sense of the term – without losing their souls and / or their shirts?

Yes, certainly. But many are ill-equipped to succeed. Neither newsrooms nor j-schools nor (correct me if I’m wrong) industry organizations are providing or promoting the skills or mind sets needed to be a sustainable innovator.

Time for yet another rethink …

The Journalistas Entrepreneur:What do you think?Confronting AusterityEuropean Federation of Journalists / GPA-djpVienna, March 2014

Jane B. Singer (jane.singer.1@city.ac.uk)