But Gannett, the SoftBank Group-owned mass media holding company, has hit the manicured nail on the cuticle by posting a unique job advert – for a ‘Taylor Swift reporter‘. Before you let out an eyerolled chuckle that smells of condescension and the morning’s omelette, this is a supremely smart move in an industry that is cutting jobs as if there were no weeds in the lawn tomorrow.
The advert makes its point strong and clear: Gannett is seeking a journalist for its dailies USA Today and The Tennessean, who should be ‘experienced, video-forward’ and proficient in capturing the ‘music and cultural impact’ of the singer-songwriter and cultural phenom Taylor Swift. ‘We are looking for an energetic writer, photographer and social media pro who can quench an undeniable thirst for all things Taylor Swift with a steady stream of content across multiple platforms…. and will identify why the pop star’s influence only expands, what her fanbase stands for in pop culture, and the effect she has across the music and business worlds.’
This is not about hiring a ‘Page 3‘ reporter, in usual Indian scenarios the ‘junior reporter in the features pool who’s free this week’, but a veteran, 360°C journalist specialising in covering the pop star as if she was the central bank and monetary policy. This is a canny move on Gannett’s part on two levels:
Feeding the almost bottomless demand on what is contemporary America’s most followed cultural-social phenomenon. Essentially putting ‘Swifties,’ the huge Taylor Swift fan base, on a Swift drip.
Tapping into the ancillary industries that have grown around the pop star. Remember, in July, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia – not your usual tween+teen influencer or influenced – noted in the ‘Beige Book,’ a summary of commentary on ‘current economic conditions’ made by the 12 district banks eight times a year: ‘Despite the slowing recovery in tourism in the region overall… May was the strongest month for hotel revenue in Philadelphia since the onset of the pandemic, in large part due to an influx of guests for the Taylor Swift concerts in the city.’ Her ongoing – and seemingly never-ending – Eras Tour is already the biggest grossing tour by a performer in the history of performance. In June, the Wall Street Journal reported that the tour has ‘the potential to gross over $1 billion’. So, coverage of the Taylor Swift industry by one seasoned and dedicated journalist may actually be skimping it.
A day after Gannett put out the ‘Taylor Swift reporter wanted’ advert, it put out another, this time seeking a dedicated journalist to cover that other American cultural phenomenon, Beyonce Knowles-Carter a.k.a. Beyonce, and how she is ‘a force in everything from how the country views race to how women think about their partners’. This is no call out for sound bite ‘What are you wearing?’ captionating journalism.
Indian journalism could do well to hire a serious, dedicated journo covering immensely popular individuals as well. A ‘Shah Rukh Khan writer-at-large’ would certainly make sense. For not just post-Jawan ‘How are you feeling?’ press conferenced quotes in the entertainment supplements, but across the pages, from the business section to the serious-as-Supreme Court-says analyses in the opinion pages.
What will also satisfy a never-satiated demand would be a full-time Narendra Modi journalist – not in the current format of everywhere-by-everyone narrow bandwidth of ‘political coverage’, but an exclusive chronicler-commentator who will, to rephrase Gannett, ‘quench an undeniable thirst for all things Narendra Modi’ in the paper.
For the likes of SRK and NaMo – which includes others who captivate, or will go on to captivate, this nation’s imagination – a small, dedicated department may well be just what the media doctor ordered in today’s scattershot, noisy mediated terrain.
