Algorithms Can’t Replace Editorial Judgment

Let’s focus for the moment on real stories generated by real journalists and how technology can help them make packaging decisions that enhance their media brand.

Much like in the world of advertising, there are now powerful technologies that enable
publishers to generate, measure and optimize the content they develop, and where, when and how they distribute it. Analytics programs can inform on trending topics in real time, readership data can help optimize engagement rates and algorithms can help determine the best placements of text, photos and video for maximum exposure. The end result is an editorial experience “optimized” by readers who, with their attention, “vote” on the stories they like best. These are incredible advancements in media, and the savviest publishers are embracing them.

These tools provide for incremental reading environment improvements, but they are not a substitution for editorial instinct. The most brilliant journalists have spent years honing their craft. Investigative reporting, disciplined fact-checking and editorial integrity are real, and they cannot be programmed. The intuition that leads a reporter to a scoop, the feeling that a story should or should not be published, the sense of timing that can only come from years of disciplined journalism — these are the human qualities that connect us to great editorial.

And they are rare and special qualities. So what happens when a publisher possesses these talents as well as a black belt in data, analytics and content optimization? Media evolves. Consumer value increases. Marketing opportunities are transformed.

The technology-driven ways of optimizing content in new media are not a threat to publishing. Quite the opposite. They present an exciting opportunity for advancement. But the opportunity is truly realized when driven by that editorial “gut” that can only come from the human experience.

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