Talk: Build your own media house

What can a journalist learn from a panel of entrepreneurs?

Today I gave a talk at Fagfestival – the biennial two day conference for 1200 danish journalists. The subject was how to build your own media empire. The reason I was invited, was my Fashion Week Live project.

I think the most important thing a journalist can learn from an entrepreneur is to go out and do something. You don’t need to work for a major newspaper to create great stories today. Maybe you should still work for a newspaper to pay rent etc. but today, with rapidly declining newspaper sales, and a boom in superficial 24 hour CNN-news, there are still many emerging markets for high quality and super-specific journalistic content. Fashion Week Live is only relevant to very few people two times a year. The rest of the year it is closed.

Another important point is that technical skills are not necessary. Everyone can start a blog and even without fancy technology it can become popular as long as the content is sharp and relevant.

Together with me in the panel was also Caroline Meldgaard – the founder of bornibyen.dk (about activities for parents and kids in urban Copenhagen).