Joshua Topolsky, for the most part, I agree with the idea that a media outfit’s core offering needs to be highly differentiated, unique. While there needs to be a value proposition as the nucleus, you cannot discount the non-core offerings; you also cannot discount the frivolous stuff that’s not “hard news.” After all, in that nostalgic age of “local news” that you reference, there were always comics and crosswords.

The important thing for a media business is to establish a defensible niche to avoid the sloppy mess of competition & commoditization that’s arisen from there being no barrier to entry today…