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A significant media shift is the rise of "practitioner media," where experts in a field (e.g., engineers, scientists, founders) share their knowledge directly with the public via podcasts or blogs. This model bypasses traditional journalists, offering unfiltered, in-depth insights from those actually doing the work.
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Successful journalists combine platforms. They use legacy media for brand credibility, editing, and infrastructure, while direct-to-consumer platforms like Substack allow for faster publishing and capturing a much larger share (70-90%) of the economic value they create.
Journalist Kara Swisher states that breaking news ("scoops") no longer holds long-term value because stories disseminate too quickly. She argues the sustainable advantage for media creators is the "value add"—providing unique analysis, context, and experience-based predictions that audiences cannot get elsewhere.
The primary driver for podcasts adopting video isn't just for social media virality. It's an economic arbitrage play against traditional television. They deliver a comparable product experience with drastically lower production costs, making them a more sustainable and profitable media model.
Former BBC CEO Deborah Turness warns that large media brands must learn from the creator economy. She urges them to stop "managing" the news and instead empower talent to build authentic, direct relationships with audiences, mirroring platforms like Substack and YouTube.
With fewer journalists and newspapers to tell stories about companies, brands are building in-house "storytelling" teams to control their own narrative. This shift from earned media to owned media (podcasts, blogs, social channels) is driving the demand for corporate storytellers to act as brand journalists.
The media landscape has fundamentally changed. Value is no longer concentrated in institutional brands like the New York Times. Instead, it has shifted to individual, 'non-fungible' writers who can now build their own brands and businesses on platforms like Substack.
With traditional news models broken, investigative journalism's future may lie with independent creators. Platforms like YouTube and X now offer monetization for this high-risk content. While lacking institutional support like legal teams, these solo journalists can build a direct audience and sustainable business, disrupting a struggling industry.
CNBC's dominance is threatened as financial news and commentary migrate to podcasts. CEOs and finance figures now break news on popular shows like Joe Rogan or niche industry podcasts, bypassing traditional financial networks and eroding their exclusive access and moat.
Unlike traditional media's short, confrontational interviews, long-form podcasts allow public figures to have extended, nuanced conversations (e.g., three hours on Joe Rogan). This reveals a more human side and can significantly shift public perception.
Major media outlets like The New York Times and Wired have shifted from adversarial to 'advocacy' journalism, pandering to a specific viewpoint. Founders should avoid them and instead invest in building a direct relationship with their audience through long-form podcasts and social media to control their own narrative.
