Tom Kelley is a freelance auto journalist specializing in trucks. He is founder of the Southeast Automotive Media Organization and Executive Director of the Truck Writers of North America.
Reach him at: tom.kelley@deadlinefactory.com
Auto Journalism 3.0 – Specialization In The Digital Age
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Tom Kelley
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“I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest.” – Agatha Christie
Earlier this year, we took a look at the “How” of Journalism 3.0, examining the delivery mechanism and how the new structural paradigm compares to the old. In this installment, we’ll take a look at “What” one should consider covering as automotive media evolves.
As a second-generation automotive journalist who’s about to round the half-century curve, I’ve had the unique opportunity to follow the highs and lows of our craft almost since the time it became a recognized subset of journalism.
During what my father sometimes referred to as “the bygone era of byzantine opulence in automotive public relations,” there were rare occasions when not just spouses were invited along to a preview, but offspring of nearly all ages were welcomed as well. While the adults were inside feasting on prime rib and being entertained with live music, my fellow rug-rats and I were outside flogging brand-appropriate go-karts around the parking lot, getting our fill of soda, hot dogs and popcorn.
Although the fog of time may have impaired my memory regarding all of the specifics, the relatively unchanged capacity of some event venues backs up my estimation that the mainstream automotive press corp numbered only in the dozens back in the auto industry’s glory days of the 1960s. If one adds in the members of the “enthusiast” and motorsports press of that era, the total number might have passed the 200 mark, but only barely so.
But then as the baby boomers came of car-buying age, the auto industry and its press corp grew exponentially over the next few decades, to the point where recent auto show statistics quote press registrations in the range of 3,000 to 4,000, not including many of the bloggers and new-media attendees.
Until recently, virtually every metro area in the U.S. with a population of a few hundred thousand or more was supporting a daily newspaper, and with it, their own dedicated autowriter riding herd on no less than a weekly auto section.
Unfortunately, those at the helm of many newspaper organizations confused their actual product with the idea that they were primarily in the business of printing on paper, secondarily acting as pundits outside the narrow constraints of the op-ed pages, and on a barely tertiary basis, serving only a portion of their readers with hard news and useful information. The inevitable result of this market blindness is that many mid-sized daily newspapers, along with a few of their big-city brethren, are currently heading the way of the buggy-whip.
With the demise of a significant portion of the newspaper business, a substantial numbers of auto journalists, hundreds maybe, find themselves looking for a new outlet to distribute their sage words of automotive wisdom. When these ex- or soon to be ex-newspaper auto journalists were “the” car guy at their paper, they had no choice but to be generalists, covering all things automotive, because nobody else at their paper had the knowledge or connections to cover the topic.
When the newspaper business was at its peak, there was a market for several hundred automotive generalists in the U.S. But now that the scope of an automotive media outlet is no longer limited to the reach of the local auto dealers, the market for generalists is drying up, just as many automotive generalists are out looking for a new home.
The obvious answer, of course, is to specialize. Not within one specific media format, and not to the exclusion of all else automotive, but to become truly expert in one, or just a small number of automotive topic areas.
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