NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - It seems that Editor & Publisher has a problem with the media.
It's nothing less than deliciously ironic when a publication which has been reporting on the press for more than a century is displeased about the way that IT, in turn, is being covered. Specifically, E&P's editors are disappointed that their magazine isn't getting more attention.
E&P Editor Greg Mitchell nodded knowingly when I said I was surprised by the dearth of publicity. "Sadly, that is true," he said. "Publicists have said that the press only covers consumer magazines, not trades. But I don't know if that's true."
In any event, the media are overlooking a worthwhile story. E&P breaks more media-beat news than practically any outfit - thanks largely to the efforts of the Human Scoop Machine, Joe Strupp. Such veterans as David Astor provide a healthy diet of interesting stories as well. While it could be argued that E&P's scoops get picked up on media-oriented Web sites and blogs all the time, when was the last time you remember reading a story ABOUT the magazine?
"It's odd," Mitchell added. "They don't call to see what we're doing (even though) they say, 'We see you everywhere.'"
Mitchell shrugged. "'I see you everywhere,'" he parroted. "I don't know what that means."
Apparently, it means that a bunch of writers on the media beat are reading (not to mention, ripping off, as E&P people are wont to grumble) Strupp's hottest scoops. More to the point, it implies that E&P may have an image problem.
On the one hand, E&P has a reputation as a meat and potatoes organization that consistently (if unspectacularly) fulfills the journalism craft's most basic objective: break news.
But in this world, quiet, dignified successes aren't always enough to grab people by their lapels and make them notice your work. It takes lots of pizzazz as well.
This means that E&P - and its owner, the Dutch media giant VNU - are determined to increase the magazine's profile, they'll need to work harder on crafting an exciting public image for an entity which will never be confused with such buzz-happy publications as, say, People and US Weekly.
Provocative
"It seems to me that Editor & Publisher has come a long way, moving from a useful but polite trade publication to a more provocative journal with sharper reporting and opinion," Ken Auletta, the New Yorker's media critic, told me in an email message. "Like all print publications in the digital age, they must fight for their place in the new world order. A strong identity -- if I were inclined to corporate speak, I would say 'brand' -- helps."
Mitchell readily concedes Auletta's point but says E&P is pleased with the strides it has made on the Internet.
"We've tried to find our place by moving more (information) to the Web," he said. "We're very aggressive."
The hard work is paying off, too. In May, E&P racked up nearly 3 million page views and had 1.5 million unique visitors on its Web site. "That's 400% more than two years ago," Mitchell said.
"We've had more scoops and more stories on the site in general," Mitchell said. E&P features about 20 new stories a day. "We went from being a 9-to-5 site to one that posts at night and on the weekends."
Mitchell and Strupp
E&P, which VNU acquired about seven years ago, boasts a solid team in Mitchell and Strupp. While Strupp, 40, has taken a conventional route to E&P of working for four newspapers across the U.S,. Mitchell, 58, has had a wide-ranging career.
Mitchell has written eight books, one of which, the baseball story "Joy in Mudville," was optioned by Tom Hanks' production company. Plus, his book "Campaign of the Century," which had been the subject of a PBS documentary, is being shown as a musical (!) by the Beverly Hills Theater Guild.
Mitchell said he joined VNU in 1999, thanks to a "wild, wild coincidence" - the publisher at the time was a fellow Little League manager. Throughout the next few years, the advertising climate worsened considerably for media companies. Things got so bleak that E&P went to a monthly format in January 2004.
Just don't ask Mitchell to tell you the exact dates of when these developments took place. During our conversation, he, at first, didn't remember what year he became editor (2004) or when the magazine became a monthly. At one point, he said to me, "I'm still trying to track down when I became the editor. It must have been March of 2002." Then he reflected, "Wow. What I'm learning here!"
Strupp, Mitchell says, is "a perfect person for us -- a pure reporter and a newshound, not a high falutin magazine guy. He does classic shoe-leather reporting -- except it's by phone. I think he's the best media reporter."
Strupp delights in uncovering stories about newspaper containing sports themes. Last year, he found out that the Indianapolis Colts, buoyed by a long winning streak to open the 2005 season, weren't the only people who had visions of a Super Bowl championship in their heads.
The Indianapolis Star made plans to send a slew of staffers to cover the hometown Colts in the Super Bowl. Yes, the location of the game, Detroit, wasn't too far away, which would have cut down on the paper's expenses. But that still represented an enormous undertaking for a medium-sized daily. And oh yeah -- the Star, as a capper, also reportedly hoped to publish a book about the team's would-be triumph.
The only problem was that the Colts, perennial underachievers in the NFL playoffs, were once again knocked out before they could reach the promised land of pro football. The Pittsburgh Steelers upset the Colts -- in Indy, no less -- dashing hopes for the city's first NFL championship.
Strupp's news exclusives include the news blackout of Christian Science Monitor correspondent Jill Carroll's abduction in Iraq, a big newspaper deal in Detroit and the Toledo Blade saying it had hired an outside investigator to find out who had sent an anonymous letter to the Pulitzer Board, accusing the paper of improper acts.
"I just like to write good stories," Strupp said. "I'm a daily news junkie who loves to break staff on the Web."
Those are fine words from a modest journalist in an age of excess. Far too many fabricators, plagiarists and self-promoters have been getting famous, infamous or notorious because they don't have Strupp's outlook.
In fact, that sort of dedication has enabled E&P to cement its reputation as a rock-solid news organization - and it should be enough to make the media take notice.
