GeekMBA360

A lot have been written about the demise of newspapers. The newspaper industry seems to blame technology, proliferation of free content on the web, and Internet advertising model.

I want to share something that I’ve experienced since I started this blog six months ago.

The traffic for this blog has been growing 50%+ each month. As a result, I’m starting to get media requests for interviews. In the past few months, I have talked to reporters from “old media” outlets such as Associated Press, Wired Magazine, etc., as well as fellow bloggers.

I have to say that I love to talk to bloggers – they’re genuine, authentic, responsive, smart, and knowledgeable about the subject area they write about. They know what they’re talking about. Every time I talk to a blogger, he/she will follow up with me and let me know when the article is out.

On the other hand, the journalists from the “old media” tend to be “takers” – I try not to over-generalize here. But, I ran into quite a few journalists with almost identical behaviors:

1. they send a me a email saying that they’ve a very tight deadline for an article, and would like to talk to me ASAP
2. I juggled my schedule to talk to them. In most cases, the interview lasted about 30 minutes
3. Near the end of the interview, the journalist would usually tell me that the article would go out in x number of days.
4. I stop hearing from them. I emailed them and asked them for a copy of the article. It’s totally silent – no email reply, no phone returns. I then forgot the whole thing. One or two months later, I got another email from the journalist – they have some other questions.

I think you got the idea – when the journalist needs something, they’ll keep emailing/calling you. When they get what they need, they disappear.

Is this how you build relationships, create credible content, and attract readership? By the way, most of the journalists I talked to seems to be clueless about the subjects they’re writing – the questions they ask are very generic and un-insightful. It’s sad to say, but I think some of them are just glorified note-takers.

During the current financial crisis, my primary source of finance news and analysis are blogs, and they’re so much better than the traditional media. Today, I saw an interesting quote: “CNBC is essentially ‘porn” for the financial industry”. I thought there were a lot of truth into it.

I think the “newspaper/magazine” industry and journalist profession itself need some serious introspection – technology, blogging, and new advertising model are only part of their challenges. They need to learn from fellow bloggers – be genuine, authentic, responsive, smart, and knowledgeable.

Interesting reading:

• The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging
• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
• The IT Girl’s Guide to Blogging with Moxie
• The AdSense Code: What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense