Printed newspapers are dead. But is journalism ?
I'm a news junkie, always have been. I grew up in a house that always had 3 or more newspapers every day for me to read.
Yet today I buy none and don’t really read the freebies that come through the letterbox.
I think that its the fact that I'm a news junkie that prevents me from reading a newspaper.
The problem with newspapers ( unless its a scoop ) is everything you read is old news or foresight into future events. With 24 hours available on the radio, TV and web there are almost no surprises when a newspaper reaches the news-stand, in reality the " news " will have already reached those that are interested, and even possibly the newspaper may be many hours behind the story.
Many newspapers and journalists are promoting the stories on the internet before the paper is even running off the presses. I suppose to promote circulation, but in reality you get the info without the purchase.
I have long believed that many newspapers have recognised that they are no longer able to compete on current affairs reporting. This has been happening for many years and its why there has been a shift towards gossip, sleaze and celeb culture. Newspapers recognised that they had to have unique content and started to fill their pages with this nonsense because its cheaper than real journalism. Their problem is that with the social media explosion even " gutter " reporting is under attack as information is shared so quickly.
What can newspapers bring that the web etc cannot ? I struggle to think of anything. Many serious journalists will point to in depth articles and investigative reporting. These are worthy activities that regularly inform and astonish. I am not rubbishing these activities but questioning their distribution and commercial model.
Serious journalism has to be funded and I assume it does not come cheap. Until recently it was the deep pockets of the national newspapers that funded their journalists to undertake these activities. But it is my argument that the model is broken.
Firstly, the distribution model will be fully electronic, that’s clear for anybody to see.
And because the distribution medium is electronic so is the advertising. And this is the killer point. Advertising on the web works best when it is targeting the visitor AND on a pay for click basis ie if no one clicks on the ads around your story you will earn nothing from it. This minimises a sizeable revenue stream for the " publisher " from traditional newspaper advertising.
So how else can a traditional newspaper earn revenue in a electronic world. Subscriptions and " paywalls " are being tried but are far from proven as a ever going to work. We like free stuff.
If you compare the newspaper industry to the music industry you can see the way this is going. The might of the record labels has gone. Most musicians earn there money from live work, merchandising etc , the recorded song ( for that read the written word ) no longer produces the income it used to. A significant number of musicians go direct to the web and fans and bypass the traditional business models altogether.
My argument is that a daily/weekly aggregator of news via the written word has no sustainable business model any more.
So what alternatives exist for written journalistic endeavours however worthy ?
I honestly don’t know would be my answer. The media world is remoulding itself and we are only at the beginning of this road. Its possible to contemplate individual ( or small groups ) of journalists developing a following like a musician which they may be able to cultivate to provide an income stream through TV appearances, lecture tours, blogs book deals etc. With the expansion of regional TV and the ability to have net based TV/radio stations there certainly will be a demand for the celebrity journalist.
For serious investigative journalism there are opportunity’s as well. Instead of distilling the story to a limited amount of words, the opportunity to expand the story background and significance of your report awaits you in the ebook world along with the joys of self publishing.
How to maximise these potential earnings is going to be a brave new world for many a journalist. Let me suggest engagement is your new horizon. In an electronic world your audience not only reads but responds and indeed, expects you to engage with them and this is done through social media.
Which brings me on to Twitter. Twitter is the best news source in the world ( its is also contains a lot of garbage I know ) As well as being instant which gives me my fix, it allows debate, conversation and rebuttal. But it it goes further than that because it adds a wonderful human dimension.
Whilst on twitter this past week I stumbled upon two events ( timelines ) that were so real that they affected me more than all the news stories I have seen elsewhere.
The first was an apparent live tweeting of somebody committing suicide via overdosing on multiple drugs. I am not going to name them but I did not ignore them and nor did many others. people reached out to try and help and showed genuine concern and warmth. It appears the individual concerned survived and I wish them well.
The second scenario was similar. this time I will name the star, Jim Smallman. The following reweet appear in my timeline :-
" Dude next to me in Starbucks just read a text and started crying. Nobody seems to care. I'm going to ask if he's ok. "
And he did. The crying guy had just been dumped and Mr Smallman took him for a pint and arranged for friends to look after him. A real act of human kindness. Again people on twitter seemed genuinely concerned. I am now following Mr Smallman which may haunt me as he like football ( Satans game )
Neither of these twitter events would ever appear in a national newspaper or behind a paywall. and this is what makes social media unique and along with the fore mention reasons a much more powerful " thing " than newspapers.
My final point is that the Leveson inquiry has a far reaching remit that includes the conduct of the press , politicians and the police. But what its really about is power. How people and businesses get it and use it. I don’t know what " findings " and " recommendations " will be made. But I have a strong suspicion that as far as journalism ( as opposed to publishers ) is concerned it will make no difference at all. Just because the press is dying, journalism wont and that’s a good thing !
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