“Big Wedding or Small” the No. 1 News Story?
I know 2015 is fading from view, but I saw a new listing of top New York Times stories of 2015 and I just had to capture the thought. 
One of the advantages of digital newspapers is you know what are the top stories and how long people spend with them.
Looking at the list caused me to have an epiphany about what the new journalism will look like in the future.
According to the New York Times online version, “We ranked the top 100 favorite Times articles of 2015…by the total combined time readers have spent looking at them. The result is a mix of ambitious investigative projects, big breaking news, features and service journalism. You can see the big themes of the year, like race, terrorism and technology — but also the things we all found captivating, like the story of twin brothers separated, which in total held readers over 62 years, or the tale of a solitary man who died alone, which in total held readers over 46 years.”
Here are the top 10:
- Big wedding or small?
- How one stupid tweet blew up Justine Sacco’s life
- Inside Amazon: Wrestling big ideas in a bruising workplace
- To fall in love with anyone, do this
- Mixed-up brothers of Bogotá
- South Carolina officer is charged with murder of Walter Scott
- The moral bucket list
- Lonely death of George Bell
- 52 places to go in 2015
- My own life
My epiphany is that the top news of the day may have us all talking for a short time, but the stories with staying power benefit our lives or tell a good story. This gives all of us a message of hope, because the content we are creating, if it is highly relevant (and well written) will hold the attention of our stakeholders.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
