Success is simply complex in media

What do WashingtonPost.com, The Discovery Times Channel, and Washington Monthly have in common? They all build successful online media assets by understanding the fundamentals of the media fundamentals. According to a report published at the the USC-Annenberg Center's Online Journalism Review:

For all the punditry on how much trouble American journalism is in, there has been virtually no attention paid to healthy sectors of the industry as demonstrated in these three case studies. None of the organizations profiled has "sold out" to business pressure or sacrificed the quality of the product in the chase for audiences. Instead, they changed their models to use the most basic business principles to hone their own product. They have focused on what makes their product different (its competitive advantage), why anyone would want it (its value proposition), who would want it (their audience), and how to get it to them (distribution channels). Their success has been in understanding their value-proposition and being ready and nimble enough to adjust to changes in the market without sacrificing their core values.

Pronouncements about the death of journalism are premature. Companies like the Washington Post Co., The Discovery Channel and Washington Monthly recognize who they are talking to (and with, though they fumble interaction badly sometimes), how to handle the challenges of real-time publishing and community engagement, and the advertising and marketing strategies that translate editorial skill  into revenue value.

Worth a read, for anyone thinking about the path to profit in new media. It's not just as simple as being "Web 2.0-savvy" or interactive-compliant.