“Working in the media is a status game. In a lot of ways status can be zero sum, and when one person is rising and getting more attention it often means someone else is falling and getting less attention. In that kind of environment, there’s always going to be jealousy and bitter recriminations against any successful newcomer”
This is something that is just so *obvious* but also something I’ve also never considered until now. I think some folks would consider those qualities the threshold of profundity.
I am one of them, brilliant insights all around but that specific bit’s something I’ll be chewing on.
As someone who works with corporates, I think the risk aversion rules them out from the fast-paced atavistic pursuit of new ways of engaging people. Establishment media will spend months and years deciding their tone of voice around celebrities, for example. I think there are benefits to the “corporate tone”, eg for state broadcasters it ensures all the coverage is evenly shared and does not harm anyone, but it obviously falls down when trying to engage with anything that *feels* current. I wonder whether we are in a transition where we will increasingly draw on individuals for updates on what is happening, but check the big media houses to see what the government budget announcements mean for them…
“Working in the media is a status game. In a lot of ways status can be zero sum, and when one person is rising and getting more attention it often means someone else is falling and getting less attention. In that kind of environment, there’s always going to be jealousy and bitter recriminations against any successful newcomer”
This is something that is just so *obvious* but also something I’ve also never considered until now. I think some folks would consider those qualities the threshold of profundity.
I am one of them, brilliant insights all around but that specific bit’s something I’ll be chewing on.
As someone who works with corporates, I think the risk aversion rules them out from the fast-paced atavistic pursuit of new ways of engaging people. Establishment media will spend months and years deciding their tone of voice around celebrities, for example. I think there are benefits to the “corporate tone”, eg for state broadcasters it ensures all the coverage is evenly shared and does not harm anyone, but it obviously falls down when trying to engage with anything that *feels* current. I wonder whether we are in a transition where we will increasingly draw on individuals for updates on what is happening, but check the big media houses to see what the government budget announcements mean for them…