Wednesday 7th June: Content is king? ‘Complete b*ll*cks; says Media veteran Neil Thackray

Good morning! Today's newsletter is brought to you by Peter who is in beautiful sunny Cascais for the FIPP Congress 2023😎 

We're proud to use Hindenburg for our podcast editing. Hindenburg is a professional-grade audio editing system made for speed and agility, and tailored for podcasts and audio storytelling. This link gets you an extended three month trial of Hindenburg Pro for business.

Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Hindenburg. (Book this ad slot)

I’ve just listened again to our Big Noises interview with our old boss Neil Thackray. I’ve written up some of what I see as the key messages from our chat, and my big takeaway is, ‘Yes media management is hard, but focussing hard on reader needs can make it easier.’

Neil pulled no punches when it came to criticising superficial parroting of the ‘content is king’ mantra. And he was deeply critical of cost-cutting that damages the product. But he did say media management is difficult, and the only way he knows to do it well is to take a step back and focus on how you can solve your audience’s problems.

He says, “One of the most powerful things you can do is talk to people 10 minutes after they've used your product and 10 minutes before. Better still, go and talk to your customers about what they do all day, be good at seeing where the friction is.”

Maybe not every pivot to video is a bad thing. Press Gazette is reporting on research that suggests Ukraine's local newsrooms are on firmer financial footing this year. In a survey, 64% of responding newsrooms said they have more employees now than before the war, and more than half said they were trying to do more video content. Of course there are other numbers in there that are truly heartbreaking, but it’s good to know the fight to report this awful war goes on.

In the fight to control AI, social media companies including Google and Facebook have been urged by the EU to “immediately” start labelling content and images generated by artificial intelligence. The move is designed to combat fake news and disinformation from Russia. “This is not business as usual; what the Russians want is to undermine the support of the public opinion of our citizens for the support of Ukraine,” said Věra Jourová, a European Commission vice-president.

The media's obsession with HBO's hit series ‘Succession’ drew outsized attention from media. According to Axios, reporting on data from media analysis firm Memo, coverage was disproportionate to reader interest. Sara Fischer says, while "Succession" was a huge hit, the spoilers, cast interviews and interpretations of the series might have been driven more by the media interest in itself than consumer interest.

More from Media Voices