William Turvill 0f City A.M. in London writes about how the strategy at Forbes is upsetting traditional journalists.
Turvill writes, “While DVorkin acknowledges ‘co-storytelling’ is likely to enrage and upset journalism purists, he emphasises this is not the point. The current traditional ‘banner’ advertising model is, he feels, not doing enough to sustain journalism as a business long-term.
“When Forbes launched BrandVoice – a period in which the company also started giving independent external contributors access to its website to upload content – it was ‘betting the ranch’, he says.
“’It was a big bet, and everybody at that time said: ‘You just killed your company. It’s going to die. It’s never going to survive.’ Well, here we are six years later, and not only are we surviving, but we’re prospering and we’re doing new things.’
“Journalists may be surprised to learn that DVorkin himself comes from an editorial background, having started out on a wire service in 1974 earning $12,500 a year. He went on to work for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Newsweek among other titles in editorial positions.”
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