Lewis Dvorkin, the chief product officer at Forbes, writes about the rise of entrepreneurial journalism and how many of the contributors to Forbes.com are experts in the field in which they write about.

Dvorkin writes, “They share their knowledge directly with the reader. I love how Dan Bigman, a FORBES managing editor and former Times business editor, puts it: ‘If you’re good enough to quote, you should be good enough to write.’

“Digital publishing and social media have turned the economics of journalism upside down. Content is everywhere, produced by everyone, not just those who own the presses or control the airwaves or cables. That’s changed the advertising game, too. Media companies can no longer charge for scarcity. In a new world order that requires quality, scale and efficiency, FORBES is taking full advantage of Joy’s Law, one of those principles that impart either science or wisdom. This one comes from Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems. He argued that in a fully networked world ‘no matter who you are, most of the smartest people work someone else.’

“For the past few years, we’ve offered the smartest people working for others — or themselves — the opportunity to be entrepreneurial journalists. Many of our 1,000 contributors have been employed by or have freelanced for the top news brands around the world. That includes national, regional and local newspapers; national and regional magazines; the big broadcast and cable television networks; online sites and radio stations. Academics from the most elite universities and learning institutions write for us, too. So do best-selling book authors, management consultants, business leaders and many others with specific expertise. I keep a Google doc open in a tab on my Chrome browser that continuously updates our contributor base. I recently counted more than 100 well-known brands associated with their backgrounds.”

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Lewis Dvorkin, the chief product officer at Forbes, writes about how company CEO Mike Perlis has changed the business magazine’s operations in the two years he has been running the company.

Dvorkin writes, “He methodically and carefully set out to dismantle the rigid structures and the leftover, but still entrenched, thinking from a bygone era. He started by removing what he dislikes the most — the silos that every traditional media company loves to live within. At first, that meant some pretty difficult personnel decisions to prepare the way for new talent, from both inside and outside FORBES. Then came quarterly Town Hall gatherings, unheard of at FORBES. After that, a company-wide FORBES 40 group of managers was assembled (not easy given the inevitable people considerations). At regular gatherings, each person gets the chair and everyone is charged with sharing what went on with the rest of the organization. Next, Mike set up product and Web site traffic meetings that busted barriers at the top. A few weeks back, I was sitting in a room with him and the leads from sales, technology, finance and product (never the best of friends, good times or bad) to solve a revenue challenge. In a free-flowing 90 minutes, ideas were discussed, rejected, then agreed upon, approved and put into action.

“Nearly everyone in that meeting had a different role within our company less than a year ago. Turmoil in the marketplace was viewed as an opportunity for change, not paralysis or retreat. Our chief  technology officer spends far more time cracking the world of programmatic buying, with the necessary resources and ad inventory to make a difference. A new chief financial officer is as much a company strategist as a number cruncher. We now have an SVP in sales who completely focuses on developing new ad products — with a staff of brand producers that is unique in the industry. And our chief revenue officer runs a sales department built for the era of modern media. (Our new chief operating officer, plucked from outside FORBES, was off somewhere focused on brand extensions. My favorite: licensing our unique publishing platform).

“Mike has a phrase — ‘equality of content.’ I love that one because it’s a version of the line I use — ‘content is content.’ Each is all about breaking down a different kind of barrier — the century-old silo that journalists built to cordon off messages from marketers. Two years ago, we launched BrandVoice, an industry leading ad product that enables marketers, fully identified and labeled, to publish content on our platforms alongside knowledgeable staff members and contributors. Back then, it was a bit of a stepchild. Today, the sales, marketing and communication teams are perfectly aligned to focus on BrandVoice as it becomes synonymous with native advertising, the most talked about trend in advertising.”

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Craig Karmin of The Wall Street Journal reports that a unit of Forbes — a completely separate non-Forbes Media entity — has stopped paying rent on a Fifth Avenue building space (90 Fifth Ave.) in Manhattan.

Karmin writes, “Because of those missed payments, Atlanta-based real-estate investor Jamestown is likely to walk away from an agreement to acquire the building for about $115 million, these people say. Forbes stopped paying its rent shortly after Jamestown agreed to buy the property in July, people say.

“Forbes Media spokeswoman Mia Carbonell declined to comment on whether or not a Forbes unit had missed rent payments at the building.

“But she said Forbes Media ‘is on solid financial footing, and the company is profitable.’

“The building is owned by New York real-estate developer RFR, which is exploring legal options, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

“Forbes moved its online staff, video team and other employees out of the building a while ago. But it still has a lease there that runs to 2020 for about 110,000 of the building’s 140,000 square feet, people said.

“A unit of Forbes Inc. has been paying roughly $8 million a year to rent the space, said a person with knowledge of the property. That price is above market for that part of the city, some brokers said.”

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