Why I’m Leaving AJAM
An open letter to the Emir of Qatar
(And a repost of “6 Hot Media Startups to Watch in 2016”)
Your Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani,
As-salamu alaikum. This is the letter I hoped I’d never have to write. I must report to you a grave threat to the #openness and #transparency that I know you aspire to in Qatar, and have no choice but to resign my post at Al Jazeera America (AJAM).
I am certain you are not aware of these events, or else you would have personally stepped in on behalf of press freedom, which I know you hold very dear. The story in brief: On Thursday, an article I wrote for AJAM, a serious, thoughtful piece entitled “6 Hot Media Startups to Watch in 2016”, was published to the AJAM website.
The analysis was by all indicators a success, having great #impact among many highly-engaged thinkfluencers, and prompting some smart takes about the Future of Media.
Shortly afterwards, the article was inexplicably removed, and replaced with an editor’s note that smacks of #closed dinosaur thinking: http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2016/2/six-hot-media-startups-to-watch-in-2016.html
Not only was the article not satire, it was highly complimentary of the AJAM online experiment, which has boldly gambled everything on an unusual and innovative “through the wall” strategy.
You yourself have stated that “the most important resource of Qatar is our people.” Could you honestly stand by that, while denying your netizens the most basic of human rights, such as lively content about the future of media?
I implore you in the strongest possible terms to look into this unfortunate decision, and to direct AJAM management to reinstate the article. I also note that on your Wikipedia page, there is no mention of your role as the Al Jazeera Editor in Chief, and I would encourage you to edit the page personally, to reflect this important information.
With this being said, until the article is reinstated, and you personally edit your Wikipedia entry, it is with deep regret that I can no longer write for AJAM, or other leading Qatari publications you edit.
As it is no longer available on your site, I am reposting the original article below. I encourage you to read it carefully, and seriously consider the many lessons these media companies can offer. How could Qatar become more like innovators such as Pando Daily and The Dodo? And how could their lessons be applied to your Kingdom at large?
Sincerely,
Six hot media startups to watch in 2016
When it comes to innovation in journalism, these companies are the true incubators
As a leading hyperglocal thinkfluencer and advocate for the dynamic new era of Journalism 3.0, I am often asked, What are the hot media properties to watch? Which innovators should we seek to emulate? And who is making the future, today?
In response to popular demand, here are six of my favorite media startups, which I’ll be watching closely in 2016:
The Dodo
Started by famed investor Ken Lerer and his daughter Isabel, it has quickly become an “Uber, but for animal pictures.” In the words of TechCrunch, “its larger focus is hinted at by the name: the dodo — a bird whose extinction helped the world recognize how humans can impact our ecosystem, sometimes to devastating consequences.”
In just two-and-a-half years, the site has firmly established itself as a leader in the long-form menagerie space, bringing attention to animals, large and small, domestic and wild alike. Now booming at a (in my opinion, absurdly low) valuation of $40 million, it has attracted glowing profiles in outlets such as Business Insider and Gawker.
With a mission to be the “Best Workplace in the World,” staff get close mentoring from Ken Lerer, who checks every word of every story and is not afraid to give candid feedback — a perfect way for young journalists to learn the content ropes. I have strong faith that once The Dodo starts monetizing its traffic, it will quickly take flight and become a unicorn.
The New Republic
The oldest startup here, it went through a significant reboot with its March 2012 purchase by Chris Hughes, tech mogul and co-founder of Facebook. It has since innovated so quickly that it is about to be re-rebooting under even newer ownership (name TBD), a great example of the rapid iteration that is characteristic of the best startups.
Instead of the old questions about subjective, qualitative measures, Chris Hughes brought in Yahoo! wartime consigliere Guy Vidra to ask fresh questions, such as: How well did this piece travel? And does this meme even lift our metrics?
I’m excited to see the New New The New Republic, and hope they re-embrace Walter Lippmann’s original mission of nextifying the bewildered herd using hot takes.
Pando Daily
Another VC-backed startup, Bay Area-based Pando Daily (affectionately referred to simply as “Pando,” meaning, in Sanskrit, “We are the world, and we are the children”), the site has been going from strength to strength, even acquiring other fast-growing startups such as the Not Safe For Work (NSFW) corporation in Las Vegas.
It was founded by the “Queen of Silicon Valley,” Sarah Lacy, who has taken on such giants as Uber and Beachmint, and scaled the company up from two people in a San Francisco basement to a powerhouse with huge global staff. With a mission of “speaking new truth to the new power,” Lacey, and her faithful editorial assistant, British writer Paul Carr, are imposing figures on Twitter.
After the NSFW acquisition, the outlet expanded from its “TechCrunch Squared” focus on startups to a more hyperglocal perspective: It combined startup funding news with the latest developments from Kiev. I would argue that no other news outlet on the Internet does such a great job of covering the intersection of Ukrainian politics, New Jersey “pay to play” scandals and startup funding.
Now with more than 1,000 Pando Premium subscribers all around the net, 2016 should be a breakout year for this content provider.
Fusion
With an approach famously described as “post-text” by the site’s Chief Content Officer, Felix Salmon, whom many tip to replace the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman when Friedman retires from travel writing, Fusion is not just news, it’s News 2.0.
By jumping directly to a post-text paradigm, the publication handily bypasses tired legacy approaches such as pageviews, engagement and visitor numbers. Instead, it measures its audience using the new microgodin system: a combination of Klout plus a “secret sauce” algorithm known only inside the company. The company has clocked some impressive microgodin counts, with reports of more than 40 million peak microgodins in 2015.
The publication has a commitment to innovation in headlines and captions. For example: “WTF just happened in South Carovada?” — which helps it capture the attention of the younger ADD generation, and also makes its content optimal for cutting-edge new platforms like Snapchat, Peeple and Plurk.
Despite its impressive microgodin count, the company lost $60 million in 2013 and 2014, according to S-1 filings. To me, this is a sure sign that the company is not afraid to invest in content — a positive omen for the future.
Mic
By focusing on the hottest group of consumers in history, millennials, the young team at the Mic (formerly known as Open Mic Night, before rebranding in 2014) has been on a tear recently.
One major innovation is its Headline 2.0 style. Recent examples include “TV star Matt McGorry shows that men can be feminists who love to vape, and we’re really thrilled about it” and “Pigs are now being genetically engineered to avoid infection, and they’re really happy about it” and “Cheese is a silent killer — so why aren’t we talking about it?”
Mic’s key innovation is to support the hectic schedule of today’s younger audience: The site enforces a strict publishing window which starts at 11 a.m., when millennials typically get up for breakfast, to 4 p.m., when most millennials are winding down for the day.
Raising a lean-and-mean $32 million in funding has allowed the site to stay very focused on its mission of being a phablet-first, post-news experience that truly lives up to its motto: “Unwonk Yourself.” My must-read.
Al Jazeera America (“AJAM”)
With its origin as an innovative mash-up of aging Qataris and US millennials, the site, funded by the Emir of Qatar, quickly made its mark. It scooped up Current TV from Al Gore and his partners for the bargain price of $500 million. They then forged a different path from the rest of the industry, pulling their online video feed in favor of going cable-channel only — very unusual in today’s millennial-dominated world.
But who says that going retro can’t be innovative? Rather than leaping “over the top” to reach people, they picked a “through the wall” strategy, in what I feel is a very bold gambit to tempt Fox News’ 60-something-year-old viewers over to the AJAM camp. At the same time, the company has its eye on the long-term: positioning themselves to capture the millennial audience when it hits AARP age.
Time will tell whether this gambit succeeds, but I certainly applaud the Qataris for ignoring the naysayers and running straight through the wall. Definitely the top one to watch in 2016.
Prof. Jeff Jarvis is the world’s leading hyperglocal thinkfluencer and Journalism 3.0 advocate. He is cofounder of the Mogadishu:Reinvent unconference and CEO of Mogadishu Capital Partners LLC. He is not Jeff Jarvis.
