The future is bright for all forms of journalism, long-form included. The supply of credible – and I stress credible – information can’t seem to meet the insatiable demand for news in the digital era. If you want to cover a beat and write a 5,000-word story, then you need to find and build an audience for it – and that takes time and a new level of expertise. The rise of digital publishing, social media, and the resulting audience fragmentation requires journalists – for that matter, all content creators – to embrace and learn new ways.
I seem to have touched a journalistic raw nerve in discussing in-depth reporting and writing, and how it’s finding a digital audience on Forbes.com, ReadItLater, longreads, The Atavist, and other Web sites, apps, communities, and startups that aggregate inquisitive readers. Nearly all the comments expressed some anxiety that a cherished media form was in danger of extinction and a measure of relief that perhaps there was still hope after all.