Preview EIC Marj Clemente on Choosing the Stories Worth Telling
In a guesting at Bilyonaryo News Channel's The Daily Dish, she opens up about the pressure of navigating the digital publishing business.
by Jam Nitura
Published on Oct 11, 2025
Relevance is the name of the game on the internet. For the publishing business, that means drawing in the most number of readers to a story or an article. Virality then becomes the measure of success and brands embellish with clickbait-worthy titles.
Preview’s Editor-in-Chief Marj Ramos-Clemente has played this dance before, and here’s why she thinks it should no longer be the norm.
Preview EIC Marj Clemente on Why a Good Story Is More Important Than Clicks
In a guesting on Bilyonaryo News Channel's The Daily Dish, Marj admits that when it comes to digital publishing, there’s always the pressure to get your numbers up, especially if you want to get a story off the ground and into the eyes of readers. But as everyone—from publications, to bloggers, to everyday people—clamors for a piece of attention, substance often gets traded for sensation.
For Marj, the way out of this loop is a change of point of view. “We try to see it more as a guide and not as a rule book. So, the metrics will always tell you what worked, but it's still your editorial instinct that will tell you what's worth doing, even if it doesn't get the numbers,” she explains. “I think it's wrong as editors, it’s irresponsible to just blindly chase numbers. Our north star should still be what's content worth creating for our audiences.”
The principle holds true whether it’s a normal article or a higher-stakes cover feature. As per Marj, the definition of celebrity today has shifted from TV artistas to anyone with an influence and something to say. These days, readers resonate more with real people, which means that Preview, whose goal has always been to capture the zeitgeist of now, has been offering their platform more and more to a wider range of personalities, including athletes, journalists, and other creatives.
“It doesn’t have to be a big star…[But] it has to be a person who resonates with your audience. It has to be someone they can connect with on a personal and emotional level also,” says Marj. “The storytelling has to be there. It can't just be beautiful visuals. It can't just be aesthetics. There has to be context. There has to be substance.”
Hear more from Preview’s EIC and watch the full interview below.
