Trends in the media?
19th April 2006 by Wilma Mathews, ABC
The media has become its own major news item in recent months as large media groups have been sold, newspapers are laying off workers, the number of magazines continues to grow and target audiences are becoming more elusive. Are these examples of trends or temporary adjustments? If they are trends, what do they — and other changes — mean for the media and for the organizational communicators who serve them? I will be leading a discussion on this topic June 6 at the IABC conference in Vancouver in a Business Breakfast with Fellows session and would like to hear from anyone who has spotted other trends in the media or anyone concerned about how to cope with these trends. I’d also like to hear about trends in the media in Asia, Europe, Africa and/or South America. If you can’t join in the session in Vancouver, please join in the discussion now.
April 19th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Hi Wilma - Looking forward to catching up in Vancouver!
One of the most interesting trends for me is how everyone is now becoming a reporter with their telephone as the key to collecting up to the minute information and visuals on the spot. TV stations are now encouraging people to submit this material providing online repositories. What will this mean for us all?
Meryl David
April 19th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Meryl,
Good point and a scary one. With capabilities such as cell phone cameras, text messaging and other instant info mechanisms available, it will become more difficult to differentiate between “real” news and photos and “instant reporter material.” While eye witnesses to events are generally regarded as the most credible people in that situation, they are notoriously wrong in their observations. It will be incumbent on the media to make sure that the information they are receiving is accurate before using it. Unfortunately, because of on-going layoffs in the media, many media are relying more on bloggers, instant reporters and other over-the-transom material because they don’t have the staff to verify information. Thus, it becomes incumbent on us — as readers and viewers — to be more careful in what we accept as “news” from the media.
Wilma
May 5th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
An interesting trend in some of today’s media is all the reporting about “what people are saying on their blogs.” Rather than researching the story and analyzing the material themselves, reporters may simply give a precis of what some of the main bloggers are saying about an issue and present that as a news story or a “sample of public opinion.” Not to denigrate bloggers’ opinions, but this process seems dangerously close to just perpetuating rumors and gossip. Are there any “facts” anymore, or just “perspectives?”
May 5th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
Janet,
A good observation! Part of the reason for this easy way out is that media are shifting their resources more to the dissemination of the news rather than the gathering of news. This means more outlets through media convergence (newspaper owns tv station and both have web sites and blogs) with fewer staff to support them. Facts and perspectives still can be found in major national/international print media such as the Wall Street Journal or the Times but smaller dailies and less robust media markets are having to depend more on what they receive than what they generate.
June 2nd, 2006 at 7:35 am
A major reason target audiences are more elusive is because of the amount of information that currently exists and that continues to be added to the media stream. Not only do people have access to multiple magazines, but they must also search other communication mediums like blogs in order to become comprehensively informed in a specific area. To add to this “information overload”, the individual most also decipher what’s real, what’s not, and what may lead them to the most accurate picture. It is great that we have so many diverse resources at our fingertips, however, I think a quality product will be the most effective way to draw in that target audience.
June 8th, 2006 at 6:10 am
I think one of the basic aspects is the technological advance that enables audience to see, listen and participate in the media where, how and when he/she wants. There are more and more means in which maedia is enabling audience to participate actively in the news with their suugestions, ideas . Audience want to have a say also in serious matters on a serious way ( not only in soap operas) and they want to actively enable their independency