News publishers ‘hugely devaluing’ their content, says former Farmers Journal editor

News publishers are sacrificing long-term revenue by giving away online content for free or offering digital products at heavily discounted prices, according to the former editor of the Irish Farmers Journal.

Justin McCarthy, who was both editor of the title and chief executive of the Agricultural Trust for a decade before recently stepping down, said some media outlets were “hugely devaluing” their content and he was “surprised” by their pricing strategies.

“If I look today, I see media outlets giving away content online either for free or at hugely discounted prices compared to what they would charge for print,” he said.

Having value

He compared this pricing strategy to a takeaway that abruptly starts selling a €10 menu item for €1, devaluing the item and making it harder to charge €10 in the future.

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“I struggle to see how hugely devaluing the content will deliver long-term reader revenue. At the Farmers Journal, we didn’t discount it,” he said.

The former editor — who now plans to return to his agricultural sector roots — said it “was not as simple as saying” that publishers should just put their prices up.

“First and foremost, before you put your prices up, you have to make sure your product has value. A generic press release that is sent out to hundreds of outlets — can you charge for that? No, I don’t think that you can. But you can charge for what it means, this is the context.”

Mr McCarthy stressed that he was no longer speaking for the Irish Farmers Journal, which has been edited since February by former deputy editor Jack Kennedy.

The media has a bright future, he added: “As I step back from that industry, that would be my very firm view.”

His prior experience working in the beef processing sector had taught him “the art of making a product that the customer values” and prompted him to invest in expertise in areas including sustainability and renewable energy during his editorship, he said.

“We wanted to turn the Farmers Journal into the Financial Times of Irish agriculture. It did take a big investment and it did take a big leap of faith.”

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The readership of the title, which has a cover price of €3.60, has grown in recent years to a record 379,000, Kantar Media’s Target Group Index survey suggests, with its print sale of more than 60,000 holding up much better than the circulation of daily general interest newspapers.

“Being the title with the highest circulation on a Thursday is not something I would have taken any comfort from,” he said.

Retail distribution

Shops in rural areas remain the most important route to market for the Irish Farmers Journal and “probably will be for some time”, he said, but broader newspaper industry concern about the future of retail distribution is “a legitimate concern”.

Mr McCarthy, who lives on a “small hobby farm” in Co Kildare with his family, now plans to find an agricultural sector role “that marries my business drive with my passion for sustainable food production”.

Before joining the Irish Farmers Journal in 2005 as its livestock editor, he had never previously written an article and had not considered journalism on account of his dyslexia, which he now believes was a benefit to him.

“I think dyslexia allowed me to look at problems differently and come up with different solutions. Journalism is about making stuff simple. As a dyslexic, you have to do that for yourself, then you can go and do it for your readers as well.”