Vanity Fair magazine nearly melted the Internet last week with its cover story on Caitlyn Jenner. But lost in the tidal wave of coverage was a revealing comment by VF Editor Graydon Carter describing how news is made today. He uttered a truth that many editors might privately acknowledge but few would dare repeat in public.
Vanity Fair scored a media coup last week by publishing the first interview and photos of Caitlyn Jenner. The magazine recorded more than 6 million unique visitors to its website after only a few hours, blowing away its traffic record. Elsewhere on the web the article generated more than 2000 headlines and 16.8 million visitors within the first 24 hours.
The record-smashing article began some months earlier but took shape after a publicist for Ms. Jenner approached a Vanity Fair editor only recently, according to a New York Times report. It is clear Ms. Jenner’s team offered an exclusive to VF in return for getting the cover feature, and the Times was quick to note the article was part of a “carefully calibrated series of public steps” to introduce Ms. Jenner to the public.
Most news organizations are careful to avoid giving the appearance that celebrities can easily buy coverage. But rather than distance himself and Vanity Fair from such tawdry exchanges, Mr. Carter embraced the idea, telling the Times:
When asked about the perception from some that the article was part of an orchestrated campaign by Ms. Jenner, Vanity Fair’s editor, Graydon Carter, said that “all stories are part of some coordinated rollout, all stories everywhere,” citing movie releases and even presidential campaigns. (emphasis added)
So there you have it, a secret truth of the news business revealed: All news is a rollout of one kind or another.
VF still tries to resemble magazine journalism of old, where big stories can be found that shape the public conversation. (Big stories command premium rates for advertisers, too.) The Times certainly believes VF belongs in that category, otherwise it wouldn’t have asked Mr. Carter about supporting a celebrity “rollout.” The Times would never ask People such a question – supporting celebrity rollouts is its business model.
It would be hard to imagine Dean Baquet of The New York Times or Gerard Baker of The Wall Street Journal admitting their newspapers were full of rollouts, too. They might agree that coverage of entertainment or politics occasionally falls victim to such sordid dealings, but not reporting about “vital” news.
But look closely at the front page of either paper and chances are you’ll see the fruit of someone’s campaigning. Indeed, Mr. Carter’s contention applies to wide swathes of any “serious” news organization. You need look no further than the use of anonymous sources for evidence that someone is engaged in a rollout.
Behind Mr. Carter’s comment is an acknowledgement that there’s really just one media business today. Whether you’re Vanity Fair, The New York Times, BusinessInsider or Buzzfeed, your business is creating a market for attention. Organizations that can grab attention and keep it will be the winners, and those that cannot will fail (see: GigaOm).
To win today, media groups are enlisting partners – advertisers, content producers and, yes, publicity teams like those employed by Ms. Jenner.