For six weeks during the fall of 2023, Automotive News faced a unique challenge: how to report on the United Auto Workers strike, knowing it could end by the time their print issue reached readers the following week. By strategically filling each edition with comprehensive coverage and analysis of the evolving negotiations, alongside other important industry issues and insights, the Detroit-based publication navigated the challenge to earn the 2024 Azbee Awards’ prestigious Magazine of the Year in the 12 or More Issues per Year group.
“Automotive News is clearly an essential read for the automotive industry,” the Azbee judges commented. “The publication demonstrated excellence through the breadth and depth of their reporting, the exclusive interviews with impactful sources, and the unique angles and valuable analysis they delivered to their readers. The manner in which they owned coverage of the most important storylines in the automotive industry sets a high bar for B2B publications to emulate.”
That award-winning breadth and depth of reporting is all thanks to the enterprising team behind the publication, says executive editor Jamie Butters.
“The key is that we have a large and talented team, so we can cover more of the auto industry with more depth than anyone else,” Butters says. “For example, I have more reporters covering U.S. auto dealers than any other news organization has covering the U.S. auto industry. Most major news outlets have three or four reporters covering GM, Ford, Tesla and everyone else. I have six reporters on the retail beat.”
The team’s deep sourcing, vast industry connections and dedicated preparation were essential to covering the major labor negotiations last year. “You have to get to know all the players and the issues well before the talks even start, long before they may deteriorate into a strike,” Butters says. Because the Automotive News team was already embedded throughout the industry, he says, they were well-positioned to cover the strike — without losing sight of all the other news that their readers also need.
Butters’ goal with every issue is to represent as much of the publication’s audience on the front page as possible, using a rubric he calls: Making, Selling and Thinking. “Making is automaker and supplier coverage, including labor. Selling is all things retail — dealerships and their diverse operations and relationships. And then there’s Thinking about the future of how people and things move, especially around electrification/decarbonization and automated driving,” Butters explains. “A few years ago, I reorganized the reporting teams around these three themes, so that helps ensure a diverse blend of stories for each issue.”
This balanced coverage strategy produces weekly print issues packed with comprehensive news that the automotive industry relies on. “If you aren’t reading this, you’re missing out on what’s going on,” one Azbee judge commented. Through a blend of in-depth analysis, exclusive interviews and strong reporting, the publication sets the bar by “consistently providing excellent value to the reader.”
Clearly, “a lot of loyal print readers” agree, Butters says. “They appreciate the seriousness of a printed news product and the ability to read it even when they don’t have Wi-Fi access.”
In this age of hybrid media — as Automotive News, like many trade publications, creates digital content in addition to a print edition — ASBPE’s Magazine of the Year award underscores the vital role that print still plays today.
“It’s really amazing to win this award for our work in print, even while we’re expanding our digital footprint, and after we’ve rearranged our production schedules to focus on a steady flow of daily web content,” Butters says. “It says a lot about the quality of our copy editors, designers and the leadership of Mary Beth Vander Schaaf, our senior director of editorial operations.”
View the publication’s award-winning entry along with the other national winners from the 2024 Azbee Awards. To hear more of Jamie Butters’ outlook on Print’s Role Today, purchase his recorded panel discussion from ASBPE’s 2024 National Conference, or purchase the full package of sessions here.