9 Comments

Great point about editorial vision and publishing. This can also be said about the digital media and platforms as well. Every decision by publishers to embrace the social media platforms is an abdication of editorial vision in serving a community.

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Sep 9, 2021Liked by Richard J. Tofel

Terrific column, Dick.

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Sep 9, 2021Liked by Richard J. Tofel

Great column and great point. It'd be interesting in a future column to examine the nonprofit newsrooms losing their editorial vision in the pursuit of donors. Same dynamic-- but sustainable for even longer bc there is no bottom line except perception of advancing the donors' agenda.

"Now Vice feels and sounds mostly like a business, delivering to advertisers eyeballs from a niche audience. That is almost never the route to success in publishing. If you don’t begin with editorial vision, and maintain it, you eventually go astray."

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Elle Reeve's groundbreaking Charlottesville coverage, which won a George Polk Award, might have been a turning point for Vice to claim a larger and more mainstream audience. Instead in appears to have been something of a blip.

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Thank you.

I'd like to talk to you about a writers’ retreat I'm holding next year. I'd like to feature Substack. Www.okobojiwritersretreat.com will be an annual event.

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