Posts Tagged: state of the media

In class, I thoroughly enjoyed our discussion concerning the current state of news media. It made me think about a lot of important factors and allowed me to think more about the questions that we all posted earlier in the week. I was especially intrigued by Alison’s ideas and we talked about these in our small group. Here are my thoughts on her questions…

1.) While people currently turn to major news sources for big events, (September 11, elections, etc.) will people turn to random citizen journalists for the same information?  IF professional journalism declines and citizen journalists fail to form “professional” organizations how will society respond to getting news from “average joes”?

I believe that this is the biggest concern among professional journalists who are basically losing their jobs that they are professionally trained for to people with little or no writing experience. This can seem very scary to these professionals who were taught to believe that they were the “gatekeepers” of information or the “watchdogs” of the government. However, other people think the opposite and believe that the rise of citizen journalism is giving more voice to the people and less to a chosen few. I think that this trend is still new and we will continue to see more and more blogs pop up. But eventually we will reach a point of overflow and people will want to see only the most reliable and trustworthy news reporters move to the forefront. This is when the professional reporters will rise again. Their daily roles may change but if they are truly good writers and accurate reporters, people will come to see them as the premium sources of news.

2.) While all forms of news are struggling, what about the hyper niche markets?  If journalism transitioned to hyper niche topics could the financial situation facing news outlets change?  Would people pay for hyper niche topics since this is a fairly untouched sector of the journalism industry?

We talked about this in our group and I believe that local news could be a place where traditional papers can still do well. It is difficult for local papers to compete against the constant flow of national news online. But often it can be difficult to find out about local events just by searching on Google. This is where local papers should focus: their primary local audience. Whether this means revamping their physical paper of reorganizing their website, they should become the go-to sources for local happenings that are too “minor” for the big guys to cover. And if they are able to corner this niche market, it will be easy for them to find local businesses who want to advertise on their site and in their paper.

3.) How can online advertising change to be more effective?  What are some other ideas?  It seems as though all advertisers try to advertise the same way online, but this isn’t working and not many solutions are being discussed.

It is definitely true that the traditional banner ads and pop-up ads have become trite and oft ignored. However, I still think that if local newspapers strive to become more “localized” they can focus all of their energies on a much more concentrated market that local businesses will clamor to have exclusive access too. However, the news sources and advertisers need to get creative with their ads and need to work together to advertise without actually advertising. Today’s consumers are much more informed and are not easily fooled by clever ads and slogans. Transparency and interactivity are key. News sources need to leverage social media both for news reporting and advertising. The businesses need to get creative with their campaign and consider using Twitter and location-based promotions. For example, they could put ‘clues’ in the paper for a special promotion that involves people “checking-in” to their store with Foursquare. Today’s consumers love to interact and be engaged with brands. They want participate in game-like activities rather than be slapped in the face by an obnoxious ad with bold text. Newspapers can work with businesses to create a win-win situation but they both need to think outside the box.

The State of News Media project is a great resource to study the developing trends in the news industry and some of the sobering statistics that act as a wake-up call to news professionals.

1.) The website talks about how the future of both new and old media are more tied together than most people think. This made me think about CNN iReport which is a prime example of an old media news source (CNN) harnessing the power of citizen journalism and social media to bring news to the people. Could this model work for other news organizations?

2.) Looking at CNN iReport’s model, is it possible that the future role of news organizations is to act as a gatekeepers and moderators for leagues of amateur reporters who contribute news from all parts of the world?

3.) News organizations’ primary source of income comes from advertising but with online news sites becoming the primary outlets, news organizations have had to come up with new ways to bring in the advertising dollars. What are some of the ways that news sites are experimenting with ad placement outside of the annoying pop-ups and banner ads?

According to State of the Media.org, there is much strife in the realm of journalism. Deciding where journalism is going and how to pay for it are constant questions. Here are some of my own to add to that list.

A current solution to the revenue question is to have advertisers pay for ad space, but many readers ignore ads which reduces the value of that ad space. What are some other potential revenue sources to explore? Advertising just seems to be the easy default and there is only so much ad space that those companies need.

My next question is about the affects the bottom line has had on the journalism institution. Yes there has been a major loss of profits over the years, but where would the profits have been if news had been focusing on relaying the news rather than making a larger profit? Perhaps the news industry is viewed not so differently than the music industry in that people are willing to support journalists, but not the corporations that employ them.

The report also touches on community news sites in relation to major news outlets. What potential collaborations could be made between the two outlets to helps support journalism in general?