Are media executives missing the big picture?

If you started as a journalist and then moved up to manage a newsroom, it’s natural to still feel that being an editor or a journalist is your primary job. Content remains central, no matter how far up the ladder you go. This mindset, while ingrained in many media managers, often leaves them focused on content and inward-looking, especially in small newsrooms. Extinguishing daily fires is the job description. But who sees the fire that’s about to come from outside your company?

I’ve been managing Kosovo 2.0 newsroom, an explanatory, contextual and narrative online magazine, for a little bit more than two years by the time I attended I attended a three-month program tailored for media executives in the Western Balkans and Central & Eastern Europe earlier this year. The program was designed by the Thomson Foundation while investing in media business models across the regions.

In June, I discussed my key takeaways with Roberto Suárez Candel, who delivered the program masterclasses alongside David Fernández Quijada. They both worked at the European Broadcasting Union before founding South 180, a consultancy firm for purpose-led organizations, including media. 

The main theme of our discussion was: are media executives focusing on the right things? As I found out at the first masterclass, I wasn’t.

Find time to think about the big picture

Journalism studies, at least in the Western Balkans, are focused on producing high-quality content. However, they don’t prepare media managers. That’s why once in a managerial position, transitioning from a content-centric to a strategy-centric mindset is challenging. Suárez Candel argues that this content focus causes many executives to get caught in the spiral of daily urgencies, neglecting the broader strategic picture, which can hinder a media company’s ability to adapt to societal changes, market dynamics, and external influences. 

The ability to think strategically is essential for ensuring the long-term sustainability and success of media organizations, notes Suárez Candel, as it helps identify risks and opportunities, enabling informed decision-making that aligns with the company’s long-term vision.

“Anyone in managerial positions of a certain level needs to stop worrying about daily problems, or at least delegate most of it to focus and to invest time in understanding what is happening outside the company. What’s happening in politics? What’s happening in the market? What’s happening with the economy? What’s happening with the people? All these aspects will shape media consumption,” said Suárez Candel. It also shapes the needs that media organizations need to fulfill, and if media executives don’t have a sense of all this, they’re walking blindfolded.

The news industry is dynamic and constantly evolving, which can make it hard for media executives to actually do some thinking. Finding time to think about the big picture is crucial for media executives, notes Suárez Candel. 

Big news organizations invest tons of money to come up with well-informed strategies that ensure they stay relevant to their audiences despite rapid changes in the world. However, this is not the case for smaller news organizations. But, before lamenting that your organization has no written or effective strategy and no financial resources to commission one, you can take small steps to incorporate strategic thinking into your daily routine as a media manager.

There is not always a need for big corporate strategies that are very expensive and painful to produce

Suárez Candel

For him, it’s more about applying a discipline of daily strategic thinking. This includes asking yourself what your goals as a media organization are, if they align with the reality of the market, and how you are performing in the matrix of four elements: financial, stakeholders, audiences, and employees. “You need to articulate your concept of a company and your concept of success according to these four axes,” explained Suárez Candel. 

Value is the only metric that matters in the long run

Media professionals often lack the essential information needed to produce the right content or service, argues Suárez Candel. Understanding what people truly need is crucial, yet the media industry has a weak tradition of audience observation. While audience agencies and online metrics provide vast amounts of data on content consumption, they don’t offer deep insights into audience concerns.

Media companies often drown in a sea of data, tracking numerous metrics that do not necessarily provide valuable insights. “We have so many metrics of people watching the pre-roll, mid-roll, end-roll, subscribers, followers… It’s a headache,” Suárez Candel remarked. 

He argued that media organizations need to move from merely tracking usage metrics to understanding the value they provide to their audience. If the content you deliver is valuable, he argues, your chances of having a future are higher.

“You need to look for metrics that demonstrate you are achieving your goals, not just that your content is used,” Suárez Candel advised. “The day has 24 hours. It’s 1,440 minutes. We need to sleep. We need to eat. We need to invest time in things that are not compatible with consuming media. And then we have time where we can consume media. But there is plenty of media. So how do people choose what media or what content they want to consume?”. 

Suárez Candel argues that this is often an instinctive choice tied to their needs, beliefs, and feelings and that media professionals must better understand these connections through more thorough audience research.

He mentions our surprise with the rise of YouTubers and social media influencers who gather thousands of followers, and media professionals dismiss them as low quality.

“Why [do people use them]? Because that [low-quality content] is fulfilling some need. So the challenge here is not to give away your professional perspective but to enrich your professional perspective with an extended and enhanced understanding of what society is going through and how you, as a media professional, can contribute to making your country a better place.”

Going back to Suárez Candel’s favorite explanation — as a manager, you have 24 hours, 1,440 minutes. What are the things you are going to focus on? Well, look outwardly and then decide.

Source of the cover photo: courtesy of the Thomson Foundation

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