Media Deathmatch: Style v. Substance

The COIL

If indeed content is King, why the increased emphasis on curating, commenting and repurposing content from others? It’s called “mined” content and it’s big money. That’s where media is today – it’s not about all things original but the style of all things compelling. And it works. We make a lot of noise about a desire for substance in our media, yet vote for style in ever increasing numbers. This comes at a price as the identity of business and media brands has become blurred and the very basis of their value is in question. In this edition of the COIL we welcome Debra Scherer, founder of The Little Squares and noted content creator from the American, French and Italian editions of Vogue, as we touch on issues such as the content creation conundrum, the Bezofication of the Washington Post and dig into questions such as: Why has style become more important than substance in news and entertainment media today? What is the cumulative effect of creating and consuming mined content over created content? Has the universal mandate of personal content creation caused a media dissociative disorder? At what point does the necessary style quotient for brands and media outlet overcome the remaining vestiges of substance?