New Tech Press

The traditional avenues of mass communication are in a state of panic as advertising, the economic model that sustains them, collapses.  Ad revenues are dropping dramatically even as readership slowly climbs. The culprit in this collapse is the Internet, or rather, the potential the Internet has to reach specific audiences more efficiently, but some journalists are finding new approaches to media that could save trade journalism.  

Nowhere is this paradigm shift more devastating than the electronics industry.  The granddaddy of the industry media, Electronic News, went entirely online seven years ago and was recently subsumed by the EDN supersite of Reed Electronics.  The remaining Reed print publication, EDN itself, is a sliver of what it once was.  Its primary competitor, Electronic Engineering Times, has similarly fallen on hard times, experiencing a huge layoff in the editorial staff with a drastic reorganization and re-prioritization of its coverage arena.  These changes are making it more difficult for marketing executives and PR professionals to know how to reach the media at all.

“The feedback I get from inside the publications is that it’s getting nuttier,” said Brian Fuller, vice president of digital content at Blanc and Otus.  ”One day management says that news is a commodity and the next day it has to be monetized as premium content. We do pitch a smaller number of print editors now but if you take into consideration the whole enchilada, print and digital, it’s an expanding universe.” 

Fuller was the editor-in-chief of EE Times when the magazine cut hundreds of people from the editorial staff and was offered a position in research.  Fuller chose to make an even bigger career leap and took his current position last summer.  His blog, www.greeleysghost.blogspot.com, has been covering the impact of the web on modern journalism.

“What’s really strange is that the circulation of these publications is static or slightly growing over the past decade,” said communications professional and former journalist Lou Covey.  ”In fact, some magazines are culling their circulation — for example, EE Times cut 50,000 readers off its list — to make sure that publications go to qualified readers.  But advertisers have abandoned print publications, causing the shrinkage of page count and staff.  At the same time, the publication houses — like Reed and EE Time’s parent, CMP — are wholeheartedly embracing the Internet as a way to disseminate news without increasing staff.”

Covey currently operates a small communication consulting firm, VitalCom, but also maintains a blog on the state of the media called Communications Basics (http://www.commbasics.typepad.com.)  His particular interest is how the Internet is changing  the ways that journalists gather news and how publications can return to profitability. “Journalists filter news primarily by asking if the potential news is important to a large portion of their audience, and whether it is true. But the staffing limitations have added two additional filter questions: do they have the proper personnel to cover the news and does that personnel have time to cover the news?  Currently, that means a lot of startup companies are just not going to get the attention they might have gotten from the press 10 years ago, if they get any attention at all.”

Covey said this is good for large corporations because they can monopolize the traditional press.  Since the large corporation is going to appeal to the largest group of readers, it means the journalist has to spend less time looking for alternatives.  ”But this is not great for small companies that are having trouble getting visibility, not only because limited coverage limits their market, but also because it reduces potential for venture investment,” Covey pointed out. As the changes have become more drastic over the past decade, several publications have been stepping into the coverage gap in the electronics industry with some new ideas for disseminating information.

On the traditional side is Chip Design magazine, a print publication edited by former academic John Blyler.  Supported by the advertising model, the publication’s pages are mostly populated by contributed articles from marketing and technical executives at companies in the semiconductor design industry.  The magazine also maintains a website that follows the same editorial guidelines, but most recently the publication has added a research facility to do industry analysis for a fee.

Another concept is IB Systems, founded by David Heller, which maintains several websites, including EDACafe.com, MCADCafe.com and PCBCafe.com.  These sites contain a small amount of original content but primarily serve as a place where subscribers can post news releases, presentations, scripted video, audio interviews and

opinion articles.  The sites have been described as “industry telephone poles” where people can post pretty much whatever they want.  The IB Systems sites are supported by “members” who pay varying amounts monthly or annually to be able to post releases or articles, or place banner advertising on the site.  The price goes up depending on how much involvement members want on the site. 

Most recently, a new online publication in the semiconductor design industry is SCDSource.com. Unlike the IB Systems model, all the content on the site to date has been original and written by a single editor, Richard Goering.  Goering was a senior editor with EE Times for almost two decades before he left in the recent layoff.  An anonymous group of corporations and venture capitalists is financing the publication.  Its publisher is a marketing communications consultant, Francine Bacchini, who has strong ties to

an industry trade group.

What these three publications have in common is that they were all founded by venture capital and are all supported by the traditional model of advertising, and, according to Covey, that is a problem. “The advertising model is horribly broken right now.  I wish it wasn’t true because it has worked well for two and a half centuries, but people have forgotten that the purpose of advertising is to support a free press,” Covey stated.  ”Moaning about its demise isn’t productive.  Something new has to be done.”

That something new is a publication called New Tech Press, founded by Covey.  The publication is supported by the companies that are covered in its issues, not by advertising.  For a set fee, New Tech Press will assign a qualified journalist to interview company spokespeople, research the topic and write an objective article. “We’re not in business to produce hit pieces or happy talk.  We want to create third-party insights into technologies and companies that can’t otherwise get the kind of coverage an Intel or Microsoft would get,” Covey stated.

Covey admits that there is some skepticism about whether a journalistcan be objective without the “wall” of advertising. But he counters that argument with the view that all publications have to make a moral choice to make that separation, even when they do accept advertising.  ”If our articles are not objective, then we add no value to the market conversation.”

His position is bolstered by the informal partnerships he has made with established media centers. New Tech Press will be sharing its articles with several news outlets at no cost to those outlets.  Each publication’s editorial staff will review each article before publication, which will enhance the quality control over the news.  ”If we don’t do our job correctly, no one is going to pick up our feeds,” Covey pointed out.  He declined to state publicly who those partners are until the articles actually appear.

Rob Van Blommestein, marketing communications manager for Novas Software, said Novas is considering becoming an initial sponsor ofthe publication. “Novas is always looking for new ways to get our message out to the user audience.  What New Tech Press provides is an interesting solution that can potentially augment that strategy.  We can see the benefit that New Tech Press can provide to vendors and readers alike and we are watching the progress closely.”

Another unusual feature of New Tech Press is its financing model. The publication is completely bootstrapped.  Covey said the team talked it over and decided against seeking a large corporate sponsor or venture funding.  ”Both options came with way too many strings. We’re seeking a more democratic form of news gathering and we believe support from multiple, small sponsors is better than being beholden to a major corporation.”

In keeping with that philosophy, New Tech Press will accept no support from companies with over $50 million in revenue, so only startups, and small private and public companies are eligible for coverage in the publication.  New Tech Press is also directly reaching out to PR firms to approach their clients to avoid competing directly with them.

The model for technology news coverage is still in a state of flux and it may continue to be so for the foreseeable future.  Success will require a higher level of cooperation between communications professionals and a greater flexibility to accept new ideas.