Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Tribune Publishing, a storied icon of American journalism, recently renamed itself Tronc and released a video to show off a new “content optimization platform,” that Malcolm CasSelle, Tronc’s chief technology officer, claims will be “the key to making our content really valuable to the broadest possible audience” through the use of machine learning.

As a marketing ploy the move clearly failed. Instead of debuting a new, tech-savvy firm that would, in the words of chief digital officer Anne Vasquez, be like “having a tech startup culture meet a legacy corporate culture,” it came off as buzzword-laden and naive. The internet positively erupted with derision.

Yet what I find even more disturbing than the style is the substance. The notion that you can transform a failing media company — or any company in any industry for that matter — by infusing it with data and algorithms is terribly misguided. While technology can certainly improve operational performance, the idea that it can replace a sound strategy is a dangerous delusion....

... With powerful technological tools at our disposal -- and significant market trends at play -- the process of breaking news has changed forever. How can news professionals adapt to the changes while taking full advantage of the unprecedented possibilities that technology is allowing? Let’s take a look.

Catalysts of Change

To better understand the market forces at work, let’s first consider three key catalysts that are driving change across the entire media industry, and affecting news organizations in particular: the accelerated digitization of media assets, the increased “consumerization” of content and a relentless pressure for operational efficiency. Each makes a huge impact on the way content is produced and distributed, and presents unique challenges and opportunities for news professionals....

"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The problem is I'm not sure which half." ~ John Wanamaker, Philadelphia department store magnate

It would appear Wanamaker’s lament, repeated by many who came after him, will finally be a thing of the past. One of the grand promises of the Internet was to make advertising more efficient. To a large extent it has, but not like what’s to come for big brands. I learned that first hand last month when we didn’t meet a marketer’s unstated expectation that 100% of its display ads on Forbes.com would be in view for readers to see.

Until recently, that wasn’t a standard contractual obligation. Then, the marketer told us it had monitored in-view rates with new ad technology. The industry calls it 100% ad viewability, and compliance presents daunting challenges for every publisher.

For journalists asking why they should care, it’s simple: the news business is about to dramatically change — again.

That’s actually a good thing. Journalism must adapt  – and it has — as digital publishing and social media continue to democratize the creation, distribution and marketing of content....