Mark Hunter: A business model for investigative journalists

Toward a new business model for investigative journalism Dr. Mark Lee Hunter Adjunct Professor, INSEAD CIJ Summer School, July 21-22 2007

The Crisis is now

Shrinking funding for IJ

Shrinking audience for mainstream media that funded it

Absence of alternative model

Disproportion of training/skills between journalists and their subjects

Deteriorating brand of journalism

The Opportunity:

Internet has created new and growing audiences

Diverse and large demand for reliable information

Disinformation creates demand for criticism (media blogs)

Communities create new relationships

The Goals: Get out of crisis Seize opportunities Earn a living doing a thing we love… That makes the world better

What is a business model?

The answer to these questions:

What are we doing? (differentiation)

What is the value? (for us and users)

How do we do it? (resources, process)

Part One: What are we doing?

The Current Model Providing citizens with information (revealing secrets) leads to better governance Watchdog role prevents, denounces or redresses missteps/wrongdoing THE CORE MODEL IS POLITICAL

Three additional answers Provide informed guidance/judgement; Make sense of chaotic open source info; Propose alternatives (link to civic journalism) Implication: Move from secret to open source, information to meaning

Our roles now become:

Watchdog (classic function!) but ALSO:

Aggregator/Monitor (massive info)

Guide (explanatory)

Critic (sense-maker)

Differentiators (key success factors):

Inquiry is a special skill

Massive data requires greater effort

Others don’t have time to watch(dog)

Independence is appreciated

Part Two: Where’s the Value?

The Value to Others: Help consumers to make better choices Help investors make better decisions Identify promising new talents, products, policies, etc. Find sense in confusing information Denounce false information Paradox: Few of these practices are considered “investigative”

The Value to Ourselves

Differentiate product (Canard, New Yorker)

Win prizes, fame

Develop skills

Enjoy the work

Gain independence…

and power (over self and environment)

Make money!

Part Three: How are we doing it?

Our Processes Stink

High transaction costs

Bad product design

What marketing?

Poor cost control (what outsourcing?)

Poor and narrow evaluation of results

Our revenue models suck: Poor diversification/leveraging Weak and costly distribution Losing advertising markets Losing viewer/reader bases

Our HR policy is for losers Low salaries/benefits = lost talent What managerial/team training? What mid-career training? Early training focused on info not inquiry

Our branding as journalists is suicidal:

The public increasingly perceives our internal rewards…NOT general benefits!

Concentration of ownership = corruption

Journalists NOT seen as differentiated pros

Journalists ARE seen = lackeys

IJ is used for occult purposes!

Part Four: Promising Alternatives

Style is Added Value Michael Moore: The news is bad, but getting it is fun Agnès Varda (The Gleaners): News you can use to stay warm

Local news is now global Internet communities: Global consumers have same products/concerns. Courrier International (France, weekly): Aggregated local news becomes international themes

Independence pays… at least in France! Le Monde: Shift from counter-power to power costs circulation Le Canard enchaîné: 400,000 weekly readers; investigation (2/8 pp) underlines credibility of commentary and reportage; circulation and revenue rising

The Internet Pays… for communities: Environmental movement: Leading NGOs are now a news network Radins.com: Guide and tests of free offers supports owner. Media blogs: Desire to understand news Potential value added: Lifestyle support, reputation (access to ancillary revenues), advertising revenue, diversify audiences (plural!)

The Internet Pays… for VA content: Economist Group: Electronic advertising revenue increased by 39% over year. Electronic revenues represented 17% of Group turnover. Consumer and business information businesses growing.

Value-added content = leverage (Economist Group): Group: The Economist, Economist.com, Economist Intelligence Unit, Economist Conferences, Economist diaries, Rights & syndication, CFO brand family, Government brands, etc. Combined advertising revenues up 20%. Economist’s worldwide circulation up 9% for the July-December 2006 ABC audit period, up 12% in North America, 8% in UK, 4% Asia-Pacific. Print advertising revenues at The Economist up 18%. Economist threatens dumbed-down BW in US.

Part Five: Strategic Perspectives

IJ as a disruptive technology (cf Christensen):

To promote/diversify IJ:

Identify niche markets where VA info has value

Invade the niche

Widen applications to other markets

IJ in the blue ocean:

Red ocean : news, “people”; general public approach

Blue ocean : specific demographics, communities poorly served by mainstream media

Cf Hamilton, “All the News That’s Fit to Sell”: Different folks like different info!

Diversify revenue streams: Private contracts/consulting Research/content services to: consumers, policymakers, NGOs Sell IJ services to media, outsource scutwork to specialists

New content media:

Aggregators

Brand positioning around specific content

Portal/ring approach: interlinked special interest sites/media (health, conspiracy, etc.)

Multi-media (incl. SMS), multi-lingual

Consulting services (subject to ethics code!!!)

In conclusion:

IJ requires a wider definition to seize opportunities.

IJ requires renewed branding and ethics.

IJ requires new processes.

IJ requires an aggressive strategy of expansion based on differentiation.

IJ ISN’T DEAD…

IT JUST ACTS LIKE IT WANTS TO DIE.

LET THE SOURCES SPEAK!!!

Beginners waste time trying to write perfect sentences about events that affected someone else. Let people who lived the story tell it.

NEVER STAND IN FRONT OF VICTIMS. What YOU feel does not matter compared to them!

When the draft is done…. Is it coherent ? (the details fit together) Is it complete ? (all questions are answered, contradictions are resolved) Does it MOVE well?

RHYTHM IS KING A good story is like a train. The reader/viewer must be invited to get on. The writer must get the train moving. DO NOT STOP THE TRAIN. SLOW IT DOWN ONLY TO RELIEVE THE READER OR SUMMARIZE BRIEFLY.

Editing the work Watch out for long sentences. They reveal your confusion + slow you down. Watch out for long paragraphs. When a person/place/idea changes, so should the paragraph. Watch out for bureaucratic language. It makes sense only to bureaucrats.

For writing samples using this method… Please visit my site: http://markleehunter.free.fr