Speech to News:Rewired, June 2010

I spoke at the News:Rewired conference on June 26, 2010.

I'm still cogitating over what I heard from other speakers at this very well organised and focussed event, and will post on what I conclude later.
For the time being, here's the text of my speech, which a couple of Tweeters called brutal. If that's how it came across, I'm truly sorry: I was aiming for 'passionate.

I’ve three main points to make today:

They’re these:

• In a niche, it’s not enough to be a journalist – you’ve got to be a business person too
• In a niche business, it’s not enough just to provide information – you’ve got to do other stuff too, even if that’s selling your readers a credit card
• A niche audience needs a niche approach – not a mass market one

Why are we talking about niche today? Why has this subject risen up the agenda – why this sudden

Speaking truth to power: my speech to the CBI

On Thursday this week (June 10), I’ve been invited to speak at the Senior Executive Lunch of the West Midlands CBI. I’ve been asked to talk about “Tomorrow’s news today -  changes to regional media and what the future holds for news journalism.”

It’s a well-worn theme and I’ve spoken on this at many events before, but mostly to media-dominated audiences. In front of an audience of very senior business figures, I thought I would try to give them an insight into where the media is going, and even steer them towards the realisation that smaller media enterprises will become more and more significant in the near future.

This is my first draft, and I’d welcome suggestions for other points to make to this audience.

(June 9 update: thanks for all the challenging and thought-provoking reaction to this post. I never expected to get such a response, as I said nothing here that I've not said before - mostly on this blog as it happens. In the light of yesterday's announcement by Jeremy Hunt that IFNCs are dead, I'll try in the speech to better represent broadcasting issues. For the moment, though, I've concentrated on tidying up some of my editing howlers on this draft and will try to update more fully later. June 10 update: I added a couple of pars about IFNCs and the Jeremy Hunt announcement. They're pasted at the bottom of this post)


Journalism has no God-given right to exist and journalists are owed a living by nobody.

By the same token, none of you have any ‘right’ whatsoever to receive a daily print newspaper that provides you with hundreds of stories focused purely on your needs as a senior business decision maker in this tiny outpost of the global economy.

Sadly, listening both to both journalists and to readers over the past few years, you would think that news journalism was like the air that