Joshua Benton, reporting for Nieman Lab:
Assuming that overall headcount remained constant, the researchers say that reducing coverage of crime would improve both visits and subscriptions. Increasing coverage of health would do the same — though note the caveat above about the uniqueness of Covid. For other beats, though, chasing visits and chasing subs point in opposite directions. Add more entertainment reporters? You’ll increase visits but reduce subscriptions. Add more local news reporters? You’ll decrease visits but increase subscriptions.
Some of this sounds good, but it’s a mixed bag. The report shares that even in the best scenarios, you can’t just hire a bunch of top reporters and have their output pay for their salaries. They conclude:
If a newsroom wants to optimize for digital subscriptions — which for more than a decade has been the closest approximation of a sustainable business model for high-quality local news — it should lean into hard news. But no matter how hard it leans, the underlying numbers remain dangerously unstable.
In other words, the economic pressures of producing the sort of things we all intellectually want to read and pay for and care about has enough downward pressure it’s almost impossible except in the leanest places. Still, turns out, people will pay for things and skills that are rare and valuable.
