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Business Insider chief Barbara Peng talks A.I., covering Trump, and anti-press attitude from figures like Musk

"Journalism is a critical part of a democratic society," Peng told Status.

Business Insider chief executive Barbara Peng speaks to staff. (Courtesy of BI)

Barbara Peng became chief executive of Business Insider in November 2023, stepping into the role at a pivotal moment for the publication and the media industry at large.

As leader of the Axel Springer publication, Peng has had to navigate a rapidly evolving media landscape, where technologies like A.I. are reshaping how news is created and consumed. At the same time, on the editorial front, cultural flashpoints — driven in part by figures like Elon Musk and Bill Ackman — are spilling into the business world, and Donald Trump’s return to the political stage is disrupting pretty much everything.

I caught up with Peng to discuss her vision for BI in this turbulent era. From the outlet’s approach to leveraging A.I. to her thoughts on covering polarizing figures like Musk and the complexities of a second Trump presidency, Peng offered answers on what readers can expect from the brand under her leadership.

Here’s our conversation, lightly edited for clarity and style.

What is your vision for Business Insider over the next five years? Is it still trying to be a fun site for younger audiences, or is it trying to cater to an older, more mature crowd?

We want Business Insider to be the go-to destination for business, tech, and innovation journalism. We’re known for our conversational and to-the-point style, and I think that's why we attract a younger and more dynamic audience. In five years, I hope that we continue to drive the conversation with our distinctive and award-winning journalism, that we are able to grow our reach and impact over time, and yes, I absolutely still want our audience to think of us as fun!

Can you outline your subscription strategy? And how do you compete in what has become a crowded field for news subscription dollars?

We can’t be everything to everyone. We need to hone in on our specific audience and be “must have” for them. That means knowing the value we uniquely deliver and delivering it consistently. It’s what keeps people coming back and builds long-term, deep relationships.

Our new Editor in Chief Jamie Heller is thinking about this every day and driving our newsroom to publish journalism that is uniquely us and can't be found anywhere else. And it’s resonating — our audience is spending way more time with us than they did a year ago.

I'm also curious: Can you disclose how many subscriptions BI currently has and what percentage of the business is reliant on them versus other streams of revenue, such as advertising?

I’m not going to share exact numbers, but we’re seeing meaningful growth in subscriptions. We’re getting much better at converting casual readers to loyal readers to subscribers, both because our journalism is more targeted to our core audience and our operations are more effective. For example, we launched a new paywall that utilizes A.I. to make smart decisions about who to paywall and when, and it’s driving over 75% more new subscribers than our old one.

How are you using A.I. in your newsroom? Would you ever be comfortable with A.I. writing stories, if properly supervised by humans?

All of Business Insider's stories are reported, written, and produced by our talented journalists. A.I. will never replace the work our reporters do talking to real people about their experiences and sharing what no one (not even A.I.!) knows yet through investigative digging.

So A.I. is not going to replace journalists but it can totally support them. We were quick to integrate A.I. into our CMS to help save time by doing things like optimizing metadata, making suggestions for headlines and summaries, etc.

With generative A.I. rapidly changing the way people find information, we’re advocating for the protections and compensation for the use of our journalism and also finding new ways to use this technology to surface our own journalism, such as through our new A.I.-powered onsite search.

How should we expect BI to cover Donald Trump's second presidency?

Our newsroom will continue to deliver scoops and hard-hitting investigative pieces that set the agenda. For so many companies we cover deeply, such as Tesla, Meta, and many others, a Trump presidency is already proving to be quite transformative. We let the facts drive our deeply reported stories and are grateful that readers across the political spectrum trust Business Insider.

Has BI evolved its editorial processes since the dust up with Bill Ackman? What did the company walk away learning from that?

Pass!

More broadly speaking, do you worry about major business leaders being so resentful of the press? Elon Musk obviously comes to mind, but he's not alone, either.

This isn’t necessarily new to us or to the media environment more broadly. The most important thing for any publication to do in this environment is to have rigorous editorial standards and a commitment to truth and fairness.

Journalists in the media industry are constantly being impacted by layoffs and downsizing. Do you see a world in which the industry ever stabilizes?

Yes! I do see it, but it’s years away and the industry will look very different. I'm motivated to lead Business Insider through these tumultuous times because journalism is a critical part of a democratic society — and most of us would agree that there's nothing in the world like working in news!

Weekend Rundown

Donald Trump. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

  • So much for free speech! Donald Trump declared that MSNBC "shouldn't have a right to broadcast." [Daily Beast]

    • In another post over the weekend, Trump again smeared the news media: "Rachel Maddow has horrible ratings. She’ll be off the air very soon. MSNBC IS CLOSE TO DEATH. CNN HAS REACHED THE BOTTOM. This is a good thing. They are the Enemy of the people!" [Mediaite]

  • 🔌 I spoke with Micah Loewinger about how news outlets are covering Trump for this week’s edition of “On the Media.” [WYNC]

  • Dr. Phil said he is meeting with ICE boss Tom Homan and will embed with agents to provide "live coverage" of an operation. [Deadline]

  • Speaking at a far-right AfD rally, Elon Musk advised Germans to "move on" from their "past guilt." Musk added, "Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great-grandparents." [POLITICO]

  • Charlamagne Tha God held up Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a Democrat who has matched her rhetoric on Trump with action. Meanwhile, he skewered Barack Obama and Joe Biden for at times being warm to Trump: "What about the Democratic politicians who spent four years calling Trump the new Adolf Hitler and then started doing stuff like this?" [Mediaite]

  • Of note: It’s been one week since TikTok went back online, but the app is still not available via Apple and Google, which means new users cannot download it and updates cannot be rolled out.

  • "Weekend Update" roasted Trump for pardoning the leader of the Oath Keepers and the January 6 convicts. [YouTube]

    • Timothée Chalamet performed Bob Dylan's "Outlaw Blues" and "Three Angels" after a surprise introduction by Adam Sandler on "SNL." [YouTube]

  • Over at Sundance, the hottest ticket was for A24’s psychological thriller “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” [AP]

    • "The Stringer," a controversial documentary probing the Associated Press' famous Vietnam "Napalm Girl" photograph, premiered at Sundance. [WaPo]

      • The AP issued a strong — and lengthy — statement Sunday pushing back against the film's narrative and saying, "We were surprised and disappointed that the film portrayed AP as having reviewed the film’s materials and being dismissive of the allegations, which is completely false." [AP]

    • “Rebuilding,” a film about resilience in the face of wildfires, also debuted at the festival. [LAT]

    • Meanwhile, the Vogue team has been keeping track of all the celebrity sightings in Park City. [Vogue]

  • Spotify and Universal Music Group announced that they have struck a multi-year deal. [Variety]

Box Office Report

A scene from "Flight Risk." (Courtesy of Lionsgate)

  • "Flight Risk," the Mel Gibson action film starring Mark Wahlberg, topped the domestic box office with $12 million in sales. [Variety]

  • "Mufasa" placed No. 2 with $8.7 million in receipts and "One of Them Days" took the No. 3 spot with $8 million in ticket sales. [BOM]

  • "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" added another $5.5 million to its coffers and "Moana 2" took home $4.3 million. [BOM]

  • Regarding the Oscar contenders: "The Brutalist" earned $2.9 million and "A Complete Unknown" took home $3.1 million. [BOM]