SWMS Deep-Dive, Part 3: The Toxicity of Retention Editing
February 13, 2024
3:48 am
You need to be logged in to view this content. Please Log In. Not a Member? Join Us
>> Strategies & Pitch Opps
What Bloomberg Says About Its Own Opinion Section
February 7, 2024
4:29 pm
Bloomberg last fall launched a 60-day marketing campaign with the message, “context changes everything.” In 2024 the “context’ messaging has continued, in the form of promoting Bloomberg’s opinion content.
Analysis: What’s Coming In AI Coverage, Feb.-Apr.
February 7, 2024
8:50 am
What can tech PR expect in terms of AI coverage in February, March and April? As part of a valet consulting request, a subscriber asked us to do some thinking on that. Below is what we came up with.
Layoffs Strike TechCrunch
January 30, 2024
8:24 am
TechCrunch suffered layoffs yesterday. At least five editors were affected
More Narrative Formula Examples
January 25, 2024
5:42 am
Perhaps you saw our Nov. 30 analysis of narrative story formulas that continually appear in Tier 1. The idea would be for PR pros to contour their story pitches to fit one of these formulas, since publications are writing these kinds of stories anyway.
A New Paid Opp at Enterprise Times
January 22, 2024
9:51 am
UK-based Enterprise Times has an interesting proposition this year for B2B agency folks: instead of pitching weak news and hoping for the best, why not pay for prominent publication at an affordable rate?
TechTarget and Informa Merge To Form ‘New TechTarget’
January 11, 2024
12:19 pm
Tech media changed today with the merger of TechTarget and Informa PLC, which calls itself “a leading international events, digital services and academic knowledge group.”
Three Challenges for Fortune In 2024
December 27, 2023
8:26 am
We’ve probably overcovered Fortune this year relative to other publications, but only because the 94-year-old publication outperformed everyone else in the industry. That was then. Fortune may struggle in ’24 to replicate 2023’s success. Here’s why.
Are NYT’s Contributed Posts Better Than VentureBeat’s?
December 5, 2023
7:01 am
You need to be logged in to view this content. Please Log In. Not a Member? Join Us
Deep Dive: Eight Narrative Formulas That Still Work
November 30, 2023
10:46 am
Ten years ago last month, we published a list of narrative story formulas that often showed up in Tier 1 publications. Our research back then determined that a small number of edit formulas provided structure for a large number of pitchable, high share-of-voice feature stories.
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
The Media Business Underperforms Other Industries, Badly
February 6, 2025
This is majorly tl;dr, but recent research from FT Strategies and Reuters empirically uncovers every trend there is, when it comes to the health of the media business. In short, “the media” is barely breakeven, here and around the world. AI search may prove devastating.
WSJ Launches CEO Brief Newsletter
February 6, 2025
The WSJ this week launched CEO Brief, a newsletter designed to inform readers, and to attract new members to the WSJ Leadership Institute. This organization is already a Dow Jones profit center, and a great example of how Tier 1 can lessen dependence on advertising. Former Fortune CEO Alan Murray runs the institute and is the nominal editor of CEO Brief — and promises to read every bit of reader mail — though he has delegated the writing of the newsletter to subordinates in the early going.
Lydia Dishman Joins Method Communications
February 6, 2025
Fast Company’s Lydia Dishman has joined (SWMS subscriber) Method Communications as VP of content strategy. Lydia joins an already strong content team, which includes former NY Times reporter Tim Race and B2B tech edit vet John Foley.
Next Out the Door: Forbes’s Alex Konrad
January 31, 2025
“I’m leaving to build something new,” Alex posted on X today. He spent 12 years at Forbes as a reporter and a builder of databases and lists. It’s time he gets to keep the money.
IDG/Foundry: From One Private Equity Owner to Another
January 31, 2025
Axios reported on Jan. 24 that private equity firm Blackstone will sell IDG/Foundry, publishers of InfoWorld, Computerworld and Network World (and owners of IDC) to another private equity firm called Regent, which bought streaming video channel Cheddar in 2023. Remains to be seen how the ownership change will affect IDG’s venerable IT titles, but it’s unlikely their budgets will go up.
Key Editorial Union Stands Up To AI
January 31, 2025
Unionized writers have secured new protections governing the use of generative AI in member newsrooms, reports the Hollywood Reporter. The union — Writers Guild of America, East — represents Fast Company, Wired and many other prominent titles. The union won agreement that publications “will not lay off current staff employees due to the use of generative AI,” and also that “advance notice [must be given] if the company plans to make the use of generative AI systems a requirement of [editors’] jobs.”