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The Business of Content with Simon OwensAuthor: Simon Owens
The show about how publishers create, distribute, and monetize their digital content. Language: en Genres: News, News Commentary Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Will The New York Times lose its top journalism talent?
Thursday, 17 September, 2026
The New York Times has become one of the few legacy media companies to successfully reinvent itself for the digital era, but that doesn't mean it's immune to disruption. One of its emerging problems is that some of the journalists it helps turn into stars can eventually make far more money by leaving and building independent businesses. The latest example is the team behind Hard Fork, whose hosts reportedly attracted multimillion-dollar offers to strike out on their own. So does the Times need to rethink how it compensates its biggest personalities? And as more journalists build audiences that can travel with them, how much power does the institution still hold over the talent? To talk through those questions, I brought back Jason Krebs, a media veteran who has held senior roles at Disney, The New York Times, and Google. We discussed why legacy publishers still tend to treat journalists like salaried employees rather than talent — and whether they need to start offering revenue sharing, bigger incentives, or other compensation structures to keep their biggest stars from walking out the door. We also explored why national newspaper chains like McClatchy continue to struggle with local news, whether private equity hollowed out those businesses without investing enough in new models, and why locally focused publishers may be better positioned to survive. Then we debated the escalating cost of sports rights, why Amazon can justify spending so aggressively, and whether traditional media companies have allowed leagues like the NFL to gain too much leverage over their businesses.
