Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who has given mainstream media plenty of criticism over their approach to stories, passes some praise their way in a recent post. As he looked over both online and offline accounts of a recent Mavs’ playoff game, Cuban found that the local newspapers in Dallas and Fort Worth offered more detailed coverage and interesting story angles than online reports at Yahoo Sports or ESPN.com. His moral?
“Depth and differentiation beat speed and regurgitation.”
When big sports events take place in your local area, the local newspaper typically steps up the coverage: assigning more reporters, finding interesting angles, digging through stats to uncover critical insights. By setting themselves apart through depth of coverage, rather than speed of breaking news, newspapers can position themselves as the place to go for information you can’t find anywhere else.
This approach applies to both newspapers and their websites — wire stores and syndicated columns don’t distinguish you. They make you one of the pack. Rather than devote time and money toward re-packaging those stories, spend that time working on things that set you apart.
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1 The Jeff Beckham Weblog » Texas Monthly Editor Profiled In Houston Chronicle // May 17, 2006 at 5:10 pm
[...] In reference to Mark Cuban’s “depth and differentiation” argument, Texas Monthly has the opportunity to be the source of information about Texas culture. There’s also unlimited space to help Smith in his quest to reach out to long-ignored parts of the state. [...]
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