BuzzFeed, Quartz show papers way forward

Ken Doctor, Eric Harris and Jay Lauf

How much does a news site with the breakaway success of BuzzFeed or Quartz have to teach a local newspaper?

After all, BuzzFeed has a largely millennial audience of 200 million unique monthly visitors and the Atlantic Media-owned Quartz targets the enviable demographic of global business professionals with a median age of 43. Not much DNA shared with the local paper in Peoria or Paducah, right?

Well, yes and no. That's the picture that emerged from a discussion between media analyst Ken Doctor and Eric Harris, BuzzFeed's chief business operations officer, and Quartz publisher Jay Lauf. The three hashed through just what lessons might be relevant for papers at the Key Executives Mega-Conference, an annual meeting here of three local newspaper trade associations.

Lauf and Harris concede that the challenges facing local publishers aren't very enviable. But having been through a complete digital reinvention at The Atlantic, Lauf says the opportunities are also empowering.

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