Meredith Klein of Meredith and the Media interviewed Mark Stenberg, senior media reporter at Adweek, about his job.
Here is an excerpt:
As a senior media reporter, you cover the business of digital and print media and publishers, including their advertising, marketing, and editorial strategies. What’s driving your coverage?
- There are three or four archetypes of stories that I write. One is scoops and investigative work, in which brands typically do not play a role. That’s me going and getting my own information. The second, that’s typically a surefire story, is: This company is doing something that no company has ever done before, just pure novelty. That will always pique my interest. A third is a key milestone: You’re one year in, or you’re at 500 million subscribers, or you’re at $10 million in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, debt, and amortization). That’s a news peg to tell a larger story, and I think it’s credible because you need excuses to return to things, even if you know the sky isn’t falling. It’s also a helpful way to check in. If it’s relevant, novel, or a particular milestone, that’s always a way in. Fourth is trends and analysis, and those are more up to me to determine.
- I have people say, “Hey, have you seen that this thing is starting to happen a lot more? Have you noticed this?” People can pitch me on a trend analysis story, but that’s more observational, based on conversations I’m having and just following the industry.
- In terms of macro forces driving my coverage, it’s no secret to say that the print-to-digital transition and how challenging that has been for the media industry is probably the primary animating force behind my coverage, and that subdivides into a lot of different subject matter. The interesting flavor of that, which I’m writing about more and more now, is creators and the transition from news as a protected commodity to just one of a number of different sources of attention and entertainment that exist for people.
Read more here.
