[TheOtherHobbes]

This model is used by any number of "business intelligence" micro-zines - which are basically market tip sheets, with some trend speculation.

It can be very lucrative if you get a following. I've seen sites charging four or five figure annual subscription fees for something that probably only takes a day or two a week to put together.

So IMV the Econo is really just industrialising that model, with some extra journo-fluff for credibility.

It's completely different to being a mainstream headline newsie like The Guardian, with a fundamentally different reader focus.

You're not selling news, you're selling the suggestion that you're on the inside track, with access to the thoughts and beliefs of people who make policy and move markets.

[blumkvist]

You are comparing news to market research...

[pjc50]

Is there a hard distinction?

[blumkvist]

I'm not sure how to respond to that question, so I will just give a straight answer.

Yes. A very big one.

[pjc50]

Let me try this again, since your answer contains no information. Why do people read news? What are they trying to get from it? Especially in the case of the Economist, a large fraction of the readers are going to be in the business of finance and investment. For the microsecond-to-microsecond data, there's Bloomberg. For longer views? The Economist. Their entire pitch is that it's information likely to be useful to your business.