Simon Dumenco, a.k.a. the “Media Guy” at Ad Age, recently had a conversation with veteran journalist and entertainment-industry reporter Sharon Waxman about her success with The Wrap.
I love her insight on what it takes to be successful online (from an editorial point of view).
I’m learning and evolving as a writer and as an reporter, and I’ve allowed myself to be a lot more personal with The Wrap than I’ve ever been — and I think that’s part of how journalism needs to be in the age of the internet. Traditional journalists have to be more daring with the voice that they write with. But it has to be accurate, it has to be fair, both sides have to be reported — so those principles of reporting that I bring with me are true for everybody who writes at The Wrap. We’re trying to get the people who have those principles to be looser, and to get the younger folks to, like, make sure that they button down on all the facts and figures.
Dumenco’s article also notes that Waxman found an initial round of investors to help fund her enterprise.
I like to imagine the day when AdPulp will have the resources to pay journalists to write stories.
The other day, Alex Bogusky recommended that one write down what success means, on a personal level, using no more than two short sentences. My response looked like this: @bogusky “For me, success is getting paid to think and write. It also means being in a position to help people.”
Now upon further reflection, it reads: “For me, success is getting paid to think and write. It also means being in a position to help people, especially people who think and write for a living.”
Naturally, getting paid is the hard part. But that’s always going to be the case. At any rate, we are thankful for the financial support that has come our way over the years and we’re actively seeking new relationships with ad schools, freelance creative teams, agencies, photogs, illustrators, SEO specialists, ad clubs, and so on. Come on, talk to (and try to persuade) our audience. You know you want to.
