To survive, big media should not adjust

The WSJ's most-read articles of '09 suggest it would do well to stick to its old school guns

Twitter, real time, social: the media buzzwords of '09.

And, according to popular wisdom, the reason Old Media is dying? It just can't keep up. Mainstream media is bleeding viewership, searching for a revenue stream while Twitter pulls in $25 million from Google and Facebook just for the right to crawl its data. When eyeballs are migrating away from mainstream to social media in droves, why not follow them? If Old Media wants to survive, it has to move in a new direction, so goes common wisdom.

But wait! They were quick to embrace the Web. After a few years of “adjusting” to the Internet where “everything is free,” the WSJ, NYT and others are going back to the old school: subscriptions. And it seems to be working.

The WSJ’s most-viewed articles of 2009 suggest a few other ways Old Media should stick to their guns: forget real-time, focus on long-term trend pieces. Forget social, embrace general-interest investigation.

Old Media still has a competitive advantage, and it ain't new media. Don't leave your home turf to compete on an unfamiliar playing field.

Tech news is where mainstream media faces the stiffest competition from new-media early adopters. A look at two of the most-viewed tech stories from the WSJ this year offer a presciption for how the old guard might want to craft its overall content strategy.

#1 Most-viewed tech story: Quick! Tell Us What KUTGW Means
(Aug. 6, 2009)
Kate Washburn didn’t know what to make of the email a friend sent to her office with the abbreviation “NSFW” written at the bottom. Then she clicked through the attached sideshow, titled “Awkward Family Photos.” It included shots of a family in furry “nude” suits and of another family alongside a male walrus in a revealing pose….

This piece breaks no news at all, but instead unpacks a wide-spread trend that millions of Americans have by now experienced. The article pieces together stats and quotes and anecdotes to weave a cohesive picture of the well-documented rise of texting shorthand. On a literary level, the article packs in a few layers of meaning, compelling readers at times to look up abbreviations and thereby experience the very disorientation it chronicles, leaving analytical readers with a taste of ISWUDT.

Old Media can fill a roll often forgotten by new media fanatics: the need to synthesize data into a coherent, meaningful whole that satisfies a higher level of the brain. The story’s well-crafted conclusion also speaks to the value of a seasoned journalist's knack for kickers:

The consequences of misunderstanding the lingo can be mortifying. Cassandra McSparin, 23, of Jim Thorpe, Pa., knew a woman whose friend’s mother had died. The woman texted her friend: “I’m so sorry to hear about your mother passing away. LOL. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

It turns out she thought LOL meant “Lots of love.”

#3 Most-viewed tech story: Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated by Spies
(April 8, 2009)

Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials....

This piece indicates Big Media’s other competitive edge: investigative journalism. The first line says it all: "according to current and former national-security officials.”

Name a blogger who has those kinds of sources. Former national-security officials looking to squawk can trust the Journal, because it’s a brand name and has a long-term interest in honoring anonymity.  They know if the Journal outs a source, others would be skittish about approaching them. Joe Blogger on the other hand is often desperate to break news and might throw folks under a bus for pageviews. Besides, dudes in black don't have time for blogs.

What’s interesting is that the Journal’s most-viewed tech stories are different from the kinds of posts tech bloggers hawk to draw pageviews, namely, anything about Twitter, Facebook, or Google. That’s because we no longer go to the Journal for latest, up-to-the-minute industry news about feature releases and deals.

Mainstream media would be wise not to waste much time with real-time news and social features. If it's not meaningful synthesis or deep-dive investigation, it's probably a waste of resources.

image: Zazzle