Thread by @kerrymflynn

I'm at What's Next for News #SXSW panel with @sarafischer featuring NYT, BuzzFeed and CNN and I was about to tweet a quote and the woman next to me told me to stop typing or move seats (because I guess I type too loud ... sorry ... I moved over one seat)

@sarafischer "We're really focused right now on the kind of journalism the NYT does really well: enterprise reporting. First dollar goes into that. Then we see a real opportunity in our digital product experience itself." - @meredith_levien #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien "We still have a really stable and thriving newspaper. That product is still the single largest source of revenue at the NYT, and we will print it and we will distribute it as long as there is revenue." - @meredith_levien #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien .@sarafischer asks why BuzzFeed created a print newspaper the other week
@BuzzFeedBen jokes that they saw their competitors do it (aka NYT) and wanted to see what happened #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen .@sarafischer asks why CNN is so invested in newsletters

@morsea: CNN isn’t just a TV network. Reality is NYT isn’t a newspaper and BuzzFeed isn’t a website. The challenge is how do you deliver experiences and take your content to deliver people in ways they want it. #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea Q: Why did NYT create The Daily and then The Weekly?

@meredith_levien: Making people more interested in quality, original journalism and make journalism play a bigger role in people's lives. #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea Q: How has BuzzFeed pivoted beyond Facebook, platform dependency?

@BuzzFeedBen: The economics just aren't there to employ journalists to create series on YouTube. But then we had Netflix. For us, we've seen Twitter be a really valuable platform, AM2DM. #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea "This is the heyday of live news. We've never seen more engagement. When anything important happens in the world, we see people come to CNN." - @morsea #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea Q on platform relationships:

"There are either friends or enemies. [The platforms] haven’t been friends. If we can partner with them, we’d love to do it but we have business models to protect and audiences to serve. We want to work with friends." - @morsea #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea Trump's "rhetoric around media is a dangerous thing. I do think the election of 2016 coincided with a giant surge in interest in accountability journalism. I think all of our organizations have benefitted from that." - @meredith_levien #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea "It’s taken news organizations time to figure out to move people’s behavior and attitude to get people to subscribe to something when the alternatives are free. The second half of last year the Trump bump wasn’t what it was but we were really thriving." - @meredith_levien #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea Q: CNN's investment in 2020 political coverage

"We didn't declare the race is on. These candidates are coming out. We think it's really important we give a voice to policy. Beyond reporting, we want these candidates to come out and have a platform." - @morsea #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea "We want to give every single candidate a platform. It seemed logical for CNN to come in and have a town hall at SX." - @morsea #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea Q: Why is NYT so invested in lifestyle content like crosswords and cooking?

@meredith_levien: We look at what do people already have daily habits of? A big strategy of the NYT is continue to be a daily habit. #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea "The fact that each platform has a different engagement metric is a huge challenge in this business. Our audience in digital is going to be on mobile and social. We have to figure out how to create meaningful BuzzFeed metrics." - @BuzzFeedBen #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea Q: Will there be a Nielsen rating of digital?

"God I hope. Data and analytics matter so much. Why don't we say it's not working? It's all a construct. Why don't we measure our models and create actionable insights?" - @morsea #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea "Digital advertising measurement has not been about value. Is this audience engaged? Do they have a habit? And it has not been about are they in a good surrounding environment? The opportunity is to save how do we value." - @meredith_levien #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea "It's insane the amount of fraud in the industry ... It's stunning. But advertisers have started to figure it out and that's good for publishers. That we're real people publishing real content." - @BuzzFeedBen #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea "It's an interesting time in journalism where people are thanking us. I don't see it as the Trump bump anymore. I see it as good journalism." - @morsea #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea Q: Can you speak to finding talent and diverse newsrooms?

@BuzzFeed: We had the benefit of starting later. It's hard to change diversity in the newsroom when you're just firing people. If you look at great reporters and editors coming out of school, it's a diverse group. #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea @BuzzFeed "It's not just having a diverse team. It's making sure you get it to them in a way that can be received." - @meredith_levien, talks about publishing stories in Spanish, Japanese and Chinese #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea @BuzzFeed Q: Ben, you’re mainstream news now. Can you survive without charging?
@BuzzFeedBen: We do see membership as part of our model now. We've been testing and we'll be ramping that up, asking people to pay for exclusive content. #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea @BuzzFeed Q: When are we going to see people of color in executive pictures.
@morsea: It's a question we hear about a lot and we can be better. We need to reflect who are audiences are and we have a diverse audience ... There isn't enough diversity in leadership. #SXSW

@sarafischer @meredith_levien @BuzzFeedBen @morsea @BuzzFeed Q: Where does local fit into all of this?

@BuzzFeedBen: Local is the enemy of scale. It doesn't apply to scale. I'm really excited by nonprofit journalism ... I think you'll see a lot of growth there. #SXSW