I Hate The Term Media

Facebook co-founder and publisher/editor-in-chief of The New Republic Chris Hughes proclaimed his distaste for the term “media” on the I Want Media-sponsored “Future of Media” panel held today in Cooper Square as part of Internet Week New York. Given the many flavors, formats and deliver mechanisms the “media” comes in nowadays, I don’t blame Mr. Hughes for not wanting to lump them all together – as if all media properties were created equal or had the same aspirations.

That sentiment was clear given the disparate nature of today’s panelists who included Vice Media‘s founder/CEO Shane Smith, the Washington Post‘s executive editor Marty Baron, Guggenheim Media‘s (The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard…) Janice Min, Vox Media Inc‘s Jim Bankoff and The New Republic‘s Mr. Hughes.

Bankoff, Min, Hughes, Shane, Baron (l. to r.) Moderator: Phillips
Bankoff, Min, Hughes, Shane, Baron (l. to r.) Moderator: Phillips

Here are some notable quotables from today’s session, which was deftly moderated by I Want Media’s Patrick Phillips. Unedited audio of the 60-minute session can be found here.

Jim Bankoff, Vox Media Inc.
Jim Bankoff, Vox Media Inc.

Jim Bankoff

Five years from now brands will matter again, quality matters, and quality digital brands will be more relevant than ever.

Our mission from The Verge to Eater is to deliver ‘relevant content on a digital platform.’

Our advantage is that we’re just web. Our audience are digital natives.

The combination of technology and talent is core to us. The magic is in that culture.

Chris Hughes

The overwhelming majority of Americans still get their news from local TV, which poses a big opportunity for disruption.

Facebook’s Paper app has completely changed my online experience. My Twitterstream does not do that for me.

The New Republic has 3M monthly users. Our print is up 20% from the first year I bought it and another 20% last year. We have 50K print readers.

We see almost as much traffic coming from Twitter as we do from Facebook. 

Janice Min, Guggenheim Media
Janice Min, Guggenheim Media

Janice Min

Five years from now I’d like to see Billboard be the MTV for music when I was a teenager.

[On hiring] social smarts are so important. We need people who can read a story and find ten ways to socialize it.

Advertisers’ desire for events is insatiable. There’s endless demand for unique experiences.

I’m one of the people who still looks at the front page of The (print) New York Times because it matters.

There’s still a media hierarchy…Our highest performing story ran yesterday (at 4000 words) on the Disney family feud

Our biggest challenge is how to maintain integrity of our brand. There is lots of “traffic bait” out there.

Yesterday we had six different stories on Drudge. It drives traffic. Facebook drives three times more traffic than Twitter.

The Hollywood Reporter had 15 million uniques last month. I don’t think all legacy brands are doomed to death.

I believe The Hollywood Reporter could not have been reinvented without the Internet. The print magazine continues to do very well in Los Angeles.

Marty Baron

Print will be a much smaller part of the media ecosystem. Everyone recognizes this. It’s delusional to think otherwise.

The biggest struggle has been coverage of local communities which has taken a huge hit…no watchdog especially for local and state legislatures.

[On Ezra Klein’s departure]: We have many star journalists. We also have 630 in our news org. There is no talent flight. We’re a magnet.

[On Bezos] It’s been good. We’re investing. He’s investing. We’re seeing substantial hiring all oriented toward digital growth. We talk by teleconference every two weeks or so. Constant, but he’s not running biz day to day.

Shane Smith, Vice Media
Shane Smith, Vice Media

Shane Smith

Five years from now we’ll see a lot more convergence…back into TV. How screens can work together.

Hiring social media experts is so important. CTO means Chief Twitter Officer. Twitter headlines.

Media’s due for a ‘correction.” Print will shrink, as well it should (for environmental reasons).

The biggest problem is the monetization of mobile.

[On the BBC] You can’t bullshit young people. The BBC should have fun with the baby boomers, then we’ll buy their business.

[What could The BBC learn from Vice]: They could be interesting.

 

 

Photos: Peter Himler w/ Canon PowerShot SX40 HS

1 comment

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