THE ROADMAP TO A RENEWED MEDIA
Print media could potentially become THE dominant media if they are willing to take some risks, like giving up the centralized control that senior editors currently have over content and finding ways to influence the OSM. Here are my ideas:
- A 24X7 newsdesk, with content updated by the minute rather than by the hour or day. In that sense then, journalists will have greater content freedom but MORE accountability. How so? Because they will have the entire Blogosphere fact-checking them by the minute.
- The old print-media houses should adopt a "realtime mobile media" approach. What I mean by this is, they should find a way to make their content mobile so that articles can be quickly and easily ported to any other site or service available. In the software development world, the rage is "object oriented programming." In the corporate education field, the rage is "object-level" learning design. Well, the media needs to get on the bandwagon and develop media objects--pieces of content that can be used and reused all across the Internet and Blogosphere, thus tapping into the Blogosphere to reach a far larger audience and realize more ad revenues.
Whenever an update is made to the original piece, those updates are pushed to every piece whereever it might be. The real key to success here, in my opinion, is the ability of a mobile media house to port advertisements along with their content. If advertisers know their content will follow a certain article, and that certain mobile media providers have their content ported widely, then they'll pay a premium to advertise with a particular media company.
- More importantly, they'll pay even to have their ads attached to content provided by certain journalists. So, in the renewed media world, journalistic talent will be rewarded by their ability to draw advertisers to their company, and also to their own personal content. Market forces will drive demand for certain content editors, not the media moguls.
- As stated above, mobile media (formerly print media) companies will give greater authority and control to their content providers, the journalists themselves, but, of course, will still retain the right to edit or delete any content they deem inappropriate. At the same time, the journalists are going to work and live much closer to their readers than ever before. Those readers will help determine the journalists' success, so they'll want constant feedback from readers quickly, which means maintaining either a bulletin board or some kind of live feed which delivers thoughts and feedback regarding the content they are providing on a moment-by-moment basis. Journalists are going to know their readers and vice versa, and it should make for a much more honest media environment.
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
>> given the fact that print media sales and readership have been steadily declining for some years now.
Everytime someone brings this up, i'm going to bring up the fact that newspapers and cable and network news Web sites account for about the top 18 of 20 most visited Web sites. it's just that money from Web sales is waaaaaaaaay lower. Next time I mention this rather glaring ommission I'll have the exact number.
2 - Temple Stark
and i didn't read your front page blurb until just now
>>Do print media moguls realize that the Internet/ Blogosphere could herald a new golden age for their industry?
See my answer above.
3 - mike hollihan
It's late and I don't have links. Sorry....
Korea's hottest newsite, Oh My Korea, is a new model for "journalism." Hundreds of correspondents, from journalists to housewives to students to businessmen to scientists, send in articles and stories every day.
Greenboro, North Carolina, has a newspaper re-inventing itself as a blog-driven website. Jay Rosen's Press Think has the link. He's been all over this development.
When phones with cams or video, and widespread broadband, are common you'll see a lot of city-oriented websites built around uploads from folks on the spot sending in video and pics. That's when newspapers will become what newsmagazines were ten years ago: sources of deeper reporting and analysis.
4 - Dave Nalle
One thing I expect to see more of is a fusion of video news and print news through the web, with video links for live reporting and accompanying text for the details. This will allow both the immediacy of the TV news and the more detailed reporting of print media.
Dave
5 - gonzo marx
ya will see it when the conditions of technology reach the level mike said above
once folks have their dick tracy videophones hooked into wireless broadband..and can update their blogs form their blackberry's quickly to insert the content..
then "News" as we have known it for the last 100 years is gonna be something totally different..
should be Fun, folks...
Excelsior!
6 - James
You don't think that having companies directly sponsor journalists will increase the temptation to pander to corporate interests?
7 - Dave Nalle
You mean they could pander MORE than they already do?
Dave
8 - David Flanagan
I agree with Dave. That temptation already exists. The only change that I see possibly is that there may be more pressure under the "mobile media" system I propose on individual journalists whereas before I believe the pressure existed more at the organizational level.
Thanks,
David
9 - mike hollihan
Back from a good night's sleep. Still no links, though. ;-)
I just saw last week something of a view of the future. We had a severe storm move through the Memphis area, spawning funnel clouds and small tornadoes. At least two stations ran videophone pics and digital pics emailed to their stations by viewers. They were also doing lots of cut-ins (much more than in the past) with either professional weather spotters or folks they trusted phoning in reports of tornadic activity.
The pics were fascinating, but also placed the stations in the difficult position of asking for more pics -- and intervieweing those who had them -- while still cautioning viewers to remain indoors and away from severe storms.
Traditional, "objective" news will still have a market from older viewers, but I think the new digital generation is already used to filtering what they see and hear, selecting those news sources they most like or trust. That's not a bad thing, either, despite the bleating of the newspapers. Remember, the norm in American history was for every community to have many newspapers serving many different social, political and ideological camps. Pre-WWII New York had more than *40* daily and weekly newspapers! Up until the Eighties, most communities had at least two newspapers.
Diversity is good! It cultivates thinking skills, listening ability, reasoning ability and fosters debate. News and opinion are inextricably linked, a function of what's happening, what gets reported and what gets ignored, who reports it and how, to whom it's reported and all the needs, expecations, demands and politics of the audience. A handful of sources can't cover all that.
In five or ten years, you'll see nearly every city in the country with a couple of websites that are open to submissions of pictures and video by the public. While a lot of them will have the usual flood of "look at us" pics, there will also be pictures of accidents happening, fires, robberies, public disturbances, etc. Pictures of alleged drug dealers and drug corners. Public figures spotted in public places with questionable guests.
The real change will accelerate when those communities which have difficulty with police relations can take and post pictures as they happen. Think Rodney King, but real-time and unedited. No identity protection for accused officers. No media suppression or editing. Imagine angry people able to see it happen moments after the incident, able to text-message a response to the situation, and then able to assemble in response before the police have even finished. That will be interesting....
10 - David Flanagan
Mike,
Excellent comments and thoughts on the subject! I agree completely. In my mind, todays print media could become a hub for exactly that kind of activity.
They gather the incoming news, analyze it, get commentary from official sources, merge the news, opinion, and analysis of dozens or even hundreds of incoming bits and pieces of information, and then report back out with the larger picture and professional analysis.
Thanks very much for you comments.
David