In 2023, more news organizations are going to realize they are in the business of impact, not of eyeballs and attention, leading to shifts in the way they plan their work and attract revenue.
I realized this as I looked back over my first year leading the Center for Public Integrity, and saw the impact that our investigative reporting has delivered. For example, the ACLU renewed its push for federal legislation after our series showed school policing was disproportionately criminalizing children of color. In Georgia, our reporting on the impact of consolidating polling places led to changes that may have affected the midterm elections.
The traditional model of news is a business of eyeballs and attention. Prior to the internet, the news industry monopolized both content creation and distribution. Advertisers were interested in reaching as many people as possible, thus news and advertising were the perfect union. As we all know, the internet broke up that marriage and wreaked chaos in the news industry.
Since then, the entire industry has been trying to reinvent itself. Some think advertising is still the way to go, others have doubled down on subscription revenue, and many more have embraced nonprofit models, powered by a combination of philanthropic and earned revenue. For the most part, though, the fundamental driver of these news business models is still audience reach.
At Public Integrity, our goal is delivering impact. When I ask who that impact serves, and who is prepared to support it, I realize Public Integrity is NOT in the news business. We’re in the business of making American capitalism more inclusive. We’re in the business of strengthening multiracial democracy. We’re in the business of equal opportunity for children. We are in the business of capacity building.
As a follow to my prediction last year on building business infrastructure and not business models, this year, many news leaders will realize they are no longer in the business of eyeballs and attention. Instead, more news organizations will position themselves as social-impact business, while adhering to journalistic values in the execution of their missions. This will lead to new ways of working and raising revenue:
Paul Cheung is the CEO of the Center for Public Integrity.
In 2023, more news organizations are going to realize they are in the business of impact, not of eyeballs and attention, leading to shifts in the way they plan their work and attract revenue.
I realized this as I looked back over my first year leading the Center for Public Integrity, and saw the impact that our investigative reporting has delivered. For example, the ACLU renewed its push for federal legislation after our series showed school policing was disproportionately criminalizing children of color. In Georgia, our reporting on the impact of consolidating polling places led to changes that may have affected the midterm elections.
The traditional model of news is a business of eyeballs and attention. Prior to the internet, the news industry monopolized both content creation and distribution. Advertisers were interested in reaching as many people as possible, thus news and advertising were the perfect union. As we all know, the internet broke up that marriage and wreaked chaos in the news industry.
Since then, the entire industry has been trying to reinvent itself. Some think advertising is still the way to go, others have doubled down on subscription revenue, and many more have embraced nonprofit models, powered by a combination of philanthropic and earned revenue. For the most part, though, the fundamental driver of these news business models is still audience reach.
At Public Integrity, our goal is delivering impact. When I ask who that impact serves, and who is prepared to support it, I realize Public Integrity is NOT in the news business. We’re in the business of making American capitalism more inclusive. We’re in the business of strengthening multiracial democracy. We’re in the business of equal opportunity for children. We are in the business of capacity building.
As a follow to my prediction last year on building business infrastructure and not business models, this year, many news leaders will realize they are no longer in the business of eyeballs and attention. Instead, more news organizations will position themselves as social-impact business, while adhering to journalistic values in the execution of their missions. This will lead to new ways of working and raising revenue:
Paul Cheung is the CEO of the Center for Public Integrity.
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Upasna Gautam Technology that performs at the speed of news
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Julia Beizer News fatigue shows us a clear path forward
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Joanne McNeil Facebook and the media kiss and make up
Don Day The news about the news is bad. I’m optimistic.
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Jessica Clark Open discourse retrenches
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Simon Galperin Philanthropy stops investing in corporate media
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Sarah Marshall A web channel strategy won’t be enough
Sarah Stonbely Growth in public funding for news and information at the state and local levels
Cassandra Etienne Local news fellowships will help fight newsroom inequities
Tim Carmody Newsletter writers need a new ethics
David Skok Renewed interest in human-powered reporting
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Tre'vell Anderson Continued culpability in anti-trans campaigns
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Eric Thurm Journalists think of themselves as workers
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Gabe Schneider Well-funded journalism leaders stop making disparate pay
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Jonas Kaiser Rejecting the “free speech” frame
Victor Pickard The year journalism and capitalism finally divorce
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Alan Henry A reckoning with why trust in news is so low
Laxmi Parthasarathy Unlocking the silent demand for international journalism
Richard Tofel The press might get better at vetting presidential candidates
Molly de Aguiar and Mandy Van Deven Narrative change trend brings new money to journalism
Bill Grueskin Local news will come to rely on AI
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Jakob Moll Journalism startups will think beyond English
Janet Haven ChatGPT and the future of trust
Amethyst J. Davis The slight of the great contraction
Matt Rasnic More newsroom workers turn to organized labor
Dominic-Madori Davis Everyone finally realizes the need for diverse voices in tech reporting
Kerri Hoffman Podcasting goes local
Parker Molloy We’ll reach new heights of moral panic
Anthony Nadler Confronting media gerrymandering
Cindy Royal Yes, journalists should learn to code, but…
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Alexandra Borchardt The year of the climate journalism strategy
Michael W. Wagner The backlash against pro-democracy reporting is coming
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Peter Sterne AI enters the newsroom
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Peter Bale Rising costs force more digital innovation
Sam Gregory Synthetic media forces us to understand how media gets made
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Eric Nuzum A focus on people instead of power
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