What’s Great and What’s Noise? Content Crafting Best Practices from Our Experts

In today's world, we are bombarded with information from all sides. As a result, it can be hard to know what is newsworthy and what is not. Matt Southern and Roger Montti, SEJ's news writers, joined Amanda Zantal-Wiener, Editor-In-Chief at SEJ, to discuss how to determine what is worth following and how to avoid being overwhelmed by the information deluge. These experts talk about information overload, marketing, and data science to share tips on how to stay informed without being overwhelmed. Matt and Roger share their experiences with information overload and how they have learned to manage it. I see breaking news as two things. The first one is the fact: “This happened.” The second part is “What does that mean and how does that impact people?”...So you must balance the speed and being out there with the news and saying “this happened.” But then we can also revert to what happened, do an article about what it means, and bring in other people who might have interesting insights into it. –Roger Montti, 7:38 [00:00] - Meet Matt & Roger. [01:26] - Understanding information overload. [05:34] - Keeping content timely and relevant amidst rapid news flow. [09:18] - How to strike a balance between reader engagement & SEO rankings. [17:31] - Tips and insights for covering statements from authority figures. [19:56] - Providing the right historical context: A key to effective writing. [23:41] - Should you always credit who covered a topic first? [27:15] - How to avoid falling down a rabbit hole when researching a topic. [33:52] - How to craft compelling personas for better writing. [44:55] - How to keep repetitive topics interesting when writing. [49:35] - The experts' views on the legal drama surrounding generative AI and innovation. [56:24] - How writers are using generative AI: Matt & Roger's perspectives. [58:10] - What our experts are writing about right now. There are three main factors I focus on when choosing a topic. First is audience interests. Then, industry