On Bloomberg’s “Market Makers,” Newsweek/Daily Beast Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown tells Stephanie Ruhle that working in the news industry is a constant battle between fulfillment and disappointment.
Brown says the business aspect of her work is more challenging than her love for journalism, a problem she says is widespread.
“We’re living in a time when everybody’s so obsessed with delivery systems and gaming the system and, you know, business … it’s actually very, very soul destroying. We don’t have enough respect for content anymore. In the end, without the great content, there are no numbers. You see again and again in the media this obsession with the numbers, this obsession with the audiences, this obsession with the demo, et cetera, but without the talent, without the people who do it, your company’s worth nothing.”
She continues to say that the news business has lost integrity because of this focus on the business by major media outlets.
“I think that there’s less respect for the editorial process then there ever was amongst business folk. The people who write the checks basically think, you know, there’s less the sense that editorial people could have some integrity and stay aloof sometimes from it a bit, not that you want to be arrogant, but that you really can say, ‘this is business, this is news.’ I think that a lot of people in media profession now feel too much of that has been eroded and there must be some respect for the integrity of news, otherwise we’re going to be a very ill-informed nation.”
Brown also talks about work-life balance, a timely discussion in the wake of the popularity of former Charleston (S.C.) Post & Courier reporter Allyson Bird’s blog post about why she quit the business.
Newsweek produced its final print edition in December, resulting in layoffs as the property prepared a plan for digital distribution, which began in January.
Previously: Tina Brown: ‘I don’t actually go to newsstands anymore’ | Newsweek covers, we will miss writing about you | How have Newsweek’s covers changed since it went digital-only?
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