Jessica Lessin (who reported on Silicon Valley for the Wall Street Journal for eight years before founding The Information in 2013) has written persuasively about the growing ‘knowledge gap’ in the news business:
“As a news entrepreneur, I’ve spent most of the last eight years focused on the business model challenges to our industry, which have been seismic. I’ve argued, again and again, that quality journalism won’t survive unless publishers stop trying to game algorithms for ad dollars and start holding themselves to a higher bar: journalism worth paying for. But another less-discussed challenge is looming for the industry. And it is one journalists don’t often want to discuss.
“The knowledge gap is widening between the experts who run industries—especially technology—and the people who try to hold them accountable through reporting. That’s not because reporters are dumb, as our collective honors from our fancy colleges demonstrate. But the widening knowledge gap is a reality of the new face of business and the characteristics of the people who lead them.”
