Owning Media vs. Owning Audience

Journalist A.J. Liebling is said to have coined the phrase, “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." But in recent news, Facebook has illustrated that in the new media environment, it is not who owns the press but who owns the audience that matters.

Emily Bell, director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University noted that Facebook's changes “...highlight how ownership of the user is a central tension between news producers and platforms.”

The NYT article goes on to note: "Publishers have little choice but to deal with the changes that Facebook makes, given the dependent relationship news media companies have with the social network. Some 44 percent of adults in the United States regularly read news content on the site, according to a 2016 study by the Pew Research Center. And more than 40 percent of referral traffic to news sites comes from Facebook, according to data from Parse.ly, a digital publishing analytics company."

If you own the audience, you want members of that audience to be happy with the content they engage with on your social network. And if "news of family" generated by audience members is more important than "news of the world" generated by journalists, you "tweak the algorithm."

What concerns me is not only that Facebook users place little value on news of the world, but also that users might isolate themselves from news that doesn't fit their own personal algorithm. Laura Brown (@LBonPlanetEarth) of Politico made this point eloquently in her presentation on a News Feed Divided.

Yes, Facebook is exerting a lot of pressure over the newsfeed. But the users are exerting even more. When we opt to read something that is referred by a friend because we know that friend holds views similar to our own, we are narrowing our world view. When fact checkers become irrelevant because we can't agree on what constitutes fact, honest dialogue gives way to boisterous demagogues.

The NYT concludes: “The growth and competition in the publisher ecosystem is really, really strong,” Adam Mosseri, vice president of product management for the news feed at Facebook, said in a recent interview with reporters. “We’re worried that a lot of people using Facebook are not able to connect to friends and family as well because of that.”

No need to worry about who owns the press anymore. But we do need to gain a better understanding of the whole "publisher ecosystem" and the role that each of us plays in building a sustainable public dialogue.

Pat Summitt Focus

Pat Summitt was four years my senior and infinitely more focused than I. She mastered a sport, a court, and support. She laid out game plans, stared down lame plays, and stayed by same principles.

She took advantage of opportunities without being an opportunist – moving from graduate assistant to coach, using Title IX to build a team, putting Rocky Top on the map of college sports. She stayed true to her state, her school, and her orange, white, and blue.

She was a mother, a mentor, a friend. She was a leader, a speaker, a motivator. She was a farm girl, a baby sister, and a woman who fought for her father’s hug. 

She moved from a childhood constrained by a small town and a half court to a woman who played full tilt on the world stage. She was honored by presidents. She stood on Olympic podiums. She cut down championship nets. 

She fought for her family. She fought for her athletes. And in the end she fought against a debilitating disease. 

Today, news organizations around the world are remembering the focus she brought to women’s basketball, the opportunities she built for herself and others, the well-rounded role model she was, and the way that she fought to the bitter end.

While she was doing all of that, I zig-zagged through a very different life. I was in Tennessee in the 1970s, but had no idea how Pat was focusing her energies. I wore flats and kept my nose in books rather than recognizing that my six-foot frame could be used to any advantage. I moved from career to career and from state to state following people and opportunities and possibilities.

Almost exactly 17 years ago, I landed back in Tennessee. Rocky Top is now home sweet home to me. I’ve gained some focus. I’ve built an academic career on top of careers as English teacher, book editor, journalist, non-profit manager, and technology marketer. I served as mentor to one of Pat’s players. I served all undergraduate students on the University of Tennessee’s Journey to the Top 25.

Ate age 60, I do not regret having followed the flow. I’ve recently returned to the students and the research that led me to academe in mid-life. I’ve only got four years until I reach the age Pat was today. How can I best serve when I'm 64? Pat has inspired me to step up my game, to build on opportunity, to fight, and most of all to focus.

Today that focus is all on Pat Summitt and the amazing legacy she built.

Needles, Spheres, and Irony

Last week, my husband, my cat and I made our summer sojourn to Seattle. On the airplane's final descent, we were able to see the Space Needle just below our glide path. The weather has been clear and fine since we arrived. From our neighborhood to the north of Seattle, I’ve occasionally spotted the top of the needle hovering like a space ship above Queen Anne Hill.



In Knoxville, where we live during the school year, the Sun Sphere casts a shadow on the balcony of our condo unit. Almost every morning, I drink coffee as I welcome the sunrise glinting off that golden globe.


The remnants of world’s fairs mark the skylines of both of my hometowns. The 1962 fair brought the Space Needle and 2.3 million visitors to Seattle. The 1982 fair brought the Sun Sphere and 11 million visitors to Knoxville. What an irony that the Knoxville fair was so much bigger than the one in Seattle!

Today the Space Needle is a more widely recognized and the city of Seattle has a bigger footprint and a grander reputation. But the “scruffy city” of Knoxville has begun to reclaim its iconic status as host – if not to the world, at least to some very good friends of mine. I recently used the sphere as the starting point for a walking tour of town for a friend who is thinking of retiring to Knoxville. And a wonderful group of friends just posted pictures from a birthday party inside the sphere. A party that I missed because I had transition to my other "fair" city.