The New York Times faces 4 challenges for retaining star talent

Given that the Times sits at the top of the food chain, it’ll probably see the most impact from the economic forces that are sweeping the media sector.

Image via Wikimedia

Welcome! I'm Simon Owens and this is my media newsletter. You can subscribe by clicking on this handy little button:

Let’s jump right into it…

The New York Times faces 4 challenges for retaining star talent

One of the themes I often cover in this newsletter is the Creator Economy’s impact on traditional media, specifically the latter’s ability to retain star talent in an era when there’s so little friction for launching your own content business. With so many high profile journalists decamping to launch Substack newsletters, YouTube channels, and other independent endeavors, it’s no longer possible for legacy media outlets to ignore the gravitational pull of the Creator Economy.

Case in point: Business Insider published a piece about the growing frustration within the New York Times’s newsroom over its policy that bars reporters from working on projects that “compete” with the newspaper. 

From the article

"When you think about the future of media, it's much more distributed and about personalities," said Taylor Lorenz, a former Times tech reporter who recently left for The Washington Post. "Younger people recognize the power of having their own brand and audience, and the longer you stay at a job that restricts you from outside opportunities, the less relevant your brand becomes."

I think there are actually four dynamics at play here that will make it increasingly difficult for The New York Times to compete with the Creator Economy for talent. Let’s walk through them:

Creator Economy platforms that cater to solo operators

Every week I get pitches from dozens of startups that are focused on making it easy for creators to monetize their content. Substack alone has poached dozens of top tier journalists from traditional media outlets, and there are likely plenty of reporters at the Times right now who are contemplating a move that would grant them more independence and the potential for greater financial upside.

Of course, the vast majority of journalists won’t be able to build a sustainable career as solo operators. As I’ve documented in the past, the economics for solo content creation are pretty unforgiving, and most people can’t afford to quit their jobs and spend the several years it takes to build a solid revenue base by themselves. Those writers with hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers could probably replace their salaries relatively quickly, but most others won’t have the launching pad they need to generate a sustainable living. 

Writer cooperatives/media startups

Perhaps the more worrying trend for legacy media companies is that journalists are getting better at launching joint ventures that allow them to combine audience and content production so they can scale more effectively. Writer collectives like Defector and Discourse Blog were able to quickly reach sustainable support even though most of their writers, individually, probably wouldn’t have made it if they struck out on their own. 

There’s also several VC-funded outlets now that specialize in offering writers a mix of equity and upfront payments to lure them away from their media jobs. Puck is a great example of this; started by a Vanity Fair alum, it’s managed to make a big splash with a relatively short roster of big name writers. “Writers have been offered equity and a percentage of the subscription revenue they would generate,” reported The New York Times. “It’s one of the first attempts to align the new talent economy with more traditional media institutions.”

The pull of multimedia projects

According to the Business Insider piece, NYT reporters who wish to work on an outside project must first fill out a form that goes to a special committee charged with determining whether the project “competes” with the publisher’s business.

Ten year ago, it was easy to identify a New York Times competitor, since the paper primarily focused on text-based reporting. But today it’s heavily invested in virtually every medium, including games, video, podcasts, and even Hollywood-level TV production. That means a reporter could run afoul of the company’s new policy if they so much as post a TikTok video.

Perhaps most frustrating of all is the rule that reporters need approval even if they want to start their own personal newsletter. Given that newsletters now play a major role in helping reporters promote their work, that rule seems especially draconian.

Competition from other traditional media outlets

Let’s not forget that while the Times’s is fending off all these new entrants, it’s also continuing to compete with other traditional media outlets for talent. Some of those other outlets have more relaxed policies for allowing reporters to work on outside media projects. For instance, star reporter Taylor Lorenz cited this very reason as why she left the Times and joined the Washington Post.

We’re also beginning to see some legacy outlets emulate Creator Economy platforms by allowing writers to more directly benefit from the revenue they generate. Both Forbes and The Atlantic have formed partnerships with newsletter writers that allocate to them a portion of the subscription revenue that comes in via their newsletters. Those kind of perks will make it easier for outlets like The Atlantic to compete with the Times.

***

It’s probably a little unfair of me to single out The New York Times here. After all, these are challenges faced by just about every traditional media outlet. But given that the Times sits at the top of the food chain, it’ll probably see the most impact from the economic forces that are sweeping the media sector. If the future of journalism is personality-driven, then the Grey Lady probably employs more high-profile personalities than just about any other outlet, and plenty of them want their chance to shine in the spotlight. The New York Times, in other words, is the proverbial canary in the coal mine.

Want to reach my influential audience?

My audience spans across industries that include media, marketing, advertising, public relations, and tech. Basically, it includes anyone whose job touches digital content in some way. Name a major media outlet or tech company, and chances are that several of its executives either read my newsletter or listen to my podcast.

If you want to reach this audience, I now have a sponsorship page that includes everything from audience size to pricing. Check it out over here.

My latest: How Big Cabal Media became one of the fastest-growing news outlets in Africa

Big Cabal Media operates two of the fastest growing digital outlets in Africa. It wants to launch verticals in a variety of niches and become a globally-recognized media company.

Quick hits

With its content scale, Disney has the potential to quickly become an ad tech behemoth. [Hollywood Reporter]

A good piece explaining why publishers are suddenly optimistic again about advertising. [Medialyte]

TikTok influencers react to the platform expanding maximum video length to 10 minutes. I'm convinced TikTok wants to introduce midroll advertising that it'll hopefully share with its creators. [BuzzFeed]

There have been a lot of mergers and acquisitions within the media sector over the past few months. [Press Gazette] What's driving so much M&A activity? 1. The need to scale audiences. 2. Desire to build up tech capabilities. 3. Easy access to borrowing money.

Wow, there's an author who's crowdfunding his next four novels on Kickstarter and he's already raised $21 million. [Kickstarter] Author John Scalzi wrote about what this means: "Can writers be successful without publishers? Sure, and some have been! But it’s an immense amount of work, that some people aren’t competent to do and others don’t care to do."

The Financial Times's built a monster subscription business by publishing some of the world's best business journalism and then locking it behind an extremely hard paywall. [Press Gazette]

Top executives from Google, Condé Nast, Vox Media, and Quartz discuss their audience development strategies. [Medium]

ICYMI: How Newsflare monetizes video from over 60,000 contributors

It built a thriving marketplace that connects filmmakers with buyers.

My Facebook group is like an exclusive club

I only promote it within this newsletter, which means it’s populated with other media geeks like me. I’m often amazed by the institutional knowledge that I come across in the comments. You can join over here: [Facebook]

Do you like this newsletter?

Then you should subscribe here:

Simon Owens is a tech and media journalist living in Washington, DC. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. Email him at simonowens@gmail.com. For a full bio, go here.