Good interview with Jay Rosen in The Economist:
DiA: Media is a business, and many of the media outlets that are doing the best business are those that tell their audiences what they want to hear, and those that pursue the politics-as-horse-race model. So how do we change the incentives in order to make the media more informative? Or does the public simply get the media it deserves?
Mr Rosen: Is The Economist in the business of telling its readers what they want to hear? Is that how the magazine is edited? I doubt it. But I hear the business is doing pretty well. So how is that possible? Look: the alternative to chasing clicks is building trust and an editorial brand. “What people want” arguments don’t impress me. I think anyone with a half a brain knows that you have to listen to demand and give people what they have no way to demand. You have to listen to them, and assert your authority from time to time, because listening well is what gives you the authority to recommend what is not immediately in demand.