Ben Davis of Econsultancy.com writes about the things that make business news site Quartz so good.
Here are two:
Quality of writing
Fundamental to Quartz is the quality of its journalism. That’s what defines the publisher to its users, and that’s what matters most. It’s the basis of readership and ultimately, in time, advertising revenue.
WordPress and open source tech, HTML5, agile ways of working, being mobile first – all of this is essential to Quartz but it doesn’t preclude or even diminish the necessity of first class journalistic instincts and articles.
Quartz’s writers have heritage at The Economist, the Wall Street Journal and beyond. Proper chops.
Obsessions
Quartz has torn up the beats that journalists have traditionally walked.
Rather than having to produce words each day on a particular subject, which leads to journalists covering things that might not necessarily be news-worthy (and is therefore not the best thing for their readers), these obsessions change.
Fresh thinking is encouraged, with new topics an editorial decision. The most successful obsessions are often seen at the cross-section of numerous subjects, for example the future of finance – this allows reporters specialising in tech, finance and regulation to get involved and encourages a diverse and bigger readership.
Read more here.