The importance of specialization — & scoops

According to Gintautas “Gin” Dumcius, journalism’s current era features a lot of different ways for folks to get the news — as well as a lot of dubious information. The newsletter he launched and now runs, called MASSterlist, is tightly focused on “people, politics, and power” in the state. In this new interview, Dumcius talks about the need for any reporter or publication to know precisely who their audience is:“If you look at the publications that are doing well, they very much know who their audience is,” says Dumcius — focusing narrowly and obsessively covering the target topic. He cites Punchbowl and Semafor as examples. For successful outlets, the core question has got to be “what is the market — who is the audience that they’re trying to serve?” The rest — advertisers, subscribers — is easy. One other thing that hasn’t changed is the importance of scoops. “Scoops draw people in. It’s news that they can’t get anywhere else.” Watch the interview or read the transcript above or on YouTube. Listen to the conversation on Spotify or Apple.Previously from The GradeHow to cover state ballot initiativesPraise & criticism for coverage of MA’s $41M charter school ballot initiativeThe ‘Northern nosedive’ in the news (Boston Globe and New Bedford Light) Literacy, blue-state politics, & media reluctance (Kelsey Piper) Get full access to Alexander Russo's The Grade at alexanderrusso.substack.com/subscribe