Daybreak Wotapka’s Media Movers: Funding Information’ EIC Paul Curcio

When InvestmetNews went in search of a brand new EIC, he was already there. The management promoted Paul Curcio, an trade veteran with a roster of top-tier publications on his resume. (Be aware to hiring managers: Generally the very best individual for the job is correct beneath your nostril.)

Paul’s serving because the linchpin in sweeping spherical of adjustments designed to develop the stalwart commerce publication’s footprint. His workforce additionally consists of well-known reporters Gregg Greenberg,  Ryan Neal (who returned to the pub) and Joanne Cleaver, who turned the newly created DEI Editor. Paul’s spectacular background made him preferrred for the duty: He has held a wide range of roles at high-profile manufacturers together with The Related Press, Dow Jones and TheStreet, the place he labored to develop an investigative information workforce. However he’s additionally been a college lecturer, radio host and a part-time dwell occasions producer.

I talked with Paul, who can also be an avid musician and proprietor of an Italian Greyhound named Leo, about his views on social media, the place he’s discovered nice mentors and the way that dwell occasions job helps him in the present day.

Daybreak Wotapka: Inform me about InvestmentNews. Who’s your viewers?

Paul Curcio: We’re a web based and print B2B journal centered on the monetary providers trade. We cater to monetary advisers, retirement planners and wealth managers.

Daybreak: What’s the largest problem you face as an editor?

Paul: Maintaining with ever-shifting norms. Google appears to vary web optimization guidelines at will and with out warning. As soon as everybody on the workforce learns a brand new app or platform, it will get up to date or turns into out of date. Social media is vexing (to make use of) between the meltdown at Twitter and elevated use of algorithms limiting what folks see of their Fb and Instagram feeds. After which there’s TikTok. A number of years in the past, everybody needed to be on Snapchat. So, social media technique is like constructing castles within the sand.

Lastly, it’s irritating when the harmless use of phrases in a headline or a picture in a narrative triggers an accusation that we’re socially or culturally insensitive. We aren’t; we’re the one information outlet in our area with a DEI editor. And we dedicate most of our awards and occasions to DEI and have a whole challenge devoted to ladies within the trade.

Daybreak: What has you probably the most optimistic about your organization’s future?

Paul: We’re the chief in our area. We had been first to cowl the advisory trade – in 1998— and now we have the very best roster of expertise in our B2B market, which supplies us a lot of avenue cred. Now we have the longest-serving journalists in our area of interest, with practically 60 years of mixed service amongst our three main senior columnists. We don’t simply cowl goings-on. We put information into context and delve into what it means for our readers. That’s complemented by a sturdy slate of occasions and awards applications that set the usual for excellence in advising and investing. In consequence, now we have a loyal base that sustains our enterprise and our standing within the trade.

Daybreak: I see that you’ve traditional print journalism expertise and also you’ve additionally hung out at a wire, radio and commerce pub. I really like this selection. What’s your favourite sort of journalism and why?

Paul: My favourite sort of journalism is nice journalism that serves the readers’ greatest pursuits with no hidden agenda. So, for me, the medium is irrelevant; it’s the outcomes that matter. Are you offering high quality data to your readers or simply pushing a story for clicks or to advertise a political ideology? That’s not journalism — at greatest it’s infotainment and, at worst, propaganda.

Daybreak:  How did you transition between print and digital, copy modifying, and a newswire position with out having that specific expertise?

Paul: You begin gaining expertise in your first day at any new job. It’s just like the proverbial journey of a thousand miles: Expertise comes with each step. In the event you apply the rules of fine reporting, writing and modifying, you’ll excel in any position in any newsroom, whether or not you’ve completed it earlier than or not.

Daybreak: Who has mentored you over time? What have they completed or stated that had lasting influence?

Paul: I contemplate the workforce at InvestmentNews to be my mentors. I had by no means lined monetary recommendation earlier than coming to IN, so on daily basis for the previous three years has been a studying expertise. They’re the very best within the enterprise, and I’m lucky to share a newsroom with them. I’ve been at a number of high-profile information organizations, however the best group of individuals I’ve had the privilege to work with is correct right here at IN.

Daybreak: I really like that you’ve “dwell occasions producer” expertise. How does that have make it easier to in the present day?

Paul: Information is rather a lot like dwell occasions. You’re placing collectively a particular product for a particular viewers inside a particular timeframe in real-time. It’s a thrill a minute. You must be agile sufficient to take no matter’s thrown at you.

Daybreak: In the event you might do one thing otherwise at one among your earlier jobs, what would it not be?

Paul: I’d have been extra vocal about my want to maneuver right into a administration position sooner.

Daybreak: What are you in search of in present hires?

Paul: Normally, professionalism and accountability. That’s briefly provide. Extra particularly, I search for good information judgment. Both you’ve it otherwise you don’t (although some might disagree with me about that). It isn’t one thing that may be taught simply, however it may be discovered or at the least sharpened with time and observe. Having it’s a nice basis for fulfillment in any newsroom.

Daybreak: If I gave you $100 million (or extra, if wanted) to start out a brand new publication, what would the enterprise mannequin be?

Paul: That’s a tricky query as a result of it speaks to the existential downside going through the information enterprise: profitability. The viewers for information appears to be shrinking. In the meantime, we’ve been making use of Twentieth-century enterprise options to Twenty first-century issues. The trade lacks innovation and clings to outdated notions of how folks devour information and, extra importantly, how a lot it’s price to them. So, the fee to start out a brand new publication is crucial, because the return on funding is proscribed and the chance is excessive.

Daybreak: That’s an interesting angle.

Paul: A $100 million startup goes to have very excessive expectations. I’d keep away from elevating it from personal fairness, as they’ve a slender funding horizon and no persistence. As a substitute search for long-term buyers who see the massive image and may climate the inevitable tough instances whilst you construct a status, an viewers, and a recognizable and trusted model. Emphasize and reward stable journalism as an alternative of selling clickbait, faux information and stealth promoting dressed up as information. Individuals are starved for high quality and at all times glad to embrace a brand new voice – if it’s real. I assume my enterprise mannequin can be: In the event you construct it proper, they are going to come.

Daybreak Wotapka is a former Wall Avenue Journal reporter who merely likes to learn and write. She lives in Atlanta together with her husband and two youngsters. She is a gradual runner and an avid Peloton consumer. To submit suggestions for her Media Movers column, you possibly can contact her at [email protected]. You should definitely connect with Dawn on LinkedIn.