Nando DiFino is a senior editor for Mediaite.com, a site founded by Dan Abrams whose mission is to be “the site for news, information and smart opinions about print, online and broadcast media, offering original and immediate assessments of the latest news as it breaks.”
DiFino, who has previously written for The Wall Street Journal, ESPN and AOL, joined the Mediaite team in 2011. He joins The Catalog to discuss his new experiences in covering politics and what to expect from the media landscape in the year ahead.
#1 Shaun Clair with The Catalog: Mediaite focuses on the news behind the news. For instance, the site focused on how different news outlets covered the #Occupy movement. Now, it seems like a primary focus is the coverage behind the Presidential Election. Is the goal to break news or just comment on it?
DiFino: Breaking news has kind of lost its shine these days, because the second you break something, hundreds of other sites aggregate it and pass it off as their own. So its wasted energy trying to run after sources and break news. We’re better at quality, entertaining, sometimes-quirky stuff. Ron Paul says something insane on CNN? We’ll have it five minutes later. Callers to C-SPAN keep asking about Mitt Romney’s privates? We’re the only place that’ll have all three videos.
#2 The Catalog: Cable news is 24/7. How does your team monitor it all and then decide what will most resonate with your readers?
DiFino: Everyone has a TV on, and everyone on staff has a sense for what works. We can see our traffic every minute of every day in real-time, and it helps to see what pops, what sticks, and what just totally dies. We’re fortunate enough to be dealing in two media — printed word and video — so if there’s an especially salacious line from an otherwise banal interview on TV, the headline still says something exciting (say, Congressman Jones Slams Barack Obama, Says He ‘Sees The Devil In His Eyes’), even if Jones’ interview was five minutes of him droning on.
#3 The Catalog: What types of stories always get traction on your site? (Or if you prefer, tell us about some of the stories you enjoyed commenting on).
DiFino: Ron Paul, Allen West, Michelle Obama, and Meghan McCain are sure-fire winners right now. But it changes on an almost weekly basis. The basics still do well — politicians fighting with each other on TV, hosts calling out other hosts and networks, candidates saying something insane at a debate — but every week there’s someone new who just kind of captures the imaginations of the general public.
#4 The Catalog: How much does reader tips figure into your news gathering?
DiFino: Not too much. Generally, we get the same tips that every other site does. They’re masked as anonymous tips, but you can tell it’s just a blast to every other site and all of their tip addresses, too — the stuff shows up across the board at almost the same time. Our value is in our staff. Everyone’s watching, reading, writing all the time. We kind of act as safety nets for each other in case something falls through.
#5: The Catalog: Finally, PR folks are always looking to insert their brands into the national news conversation. 2012 news will be dominated by the Presidential Election. Any advice for marketers planning brand campaigns with an Election theme? What works, what doesn’t?
DiFino: You know, the YouTube videos aren’t that funny and don’t rate, because I think people are figuring out that a lot of them are just commercials disguised. And the “_______ For President” stuff — with a C-level name in there — is kind of stale and ran its course. There’s always room for some ingenuity, though. Stay a step ahead of the game. In a few months, all this craziness will be gone, and it’ll be down to two guys. We could always use some fresh perspective and access. Sign Rudy Giuliani as a spokesman. Someone with an opinion and name recognition who isn’t over-used. There are plenty of them across the political spectrum.
The Catalog: Nando, thanks for your time and insight. We all look forward to reading the site in 2012. Best of luck to you.
DiFino: Thanks, Shaun! Go get Giuliani!
