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February 22, 2006
The New Media Consumer
I attended a presentation Monday night on the relevance of the news media sponsored by the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The consensus among the panel was that news media remain relevant, but that relevance is changing. The “new” media consumer triangulates, the panel said. Today’s media consumers read the same story from multiple sources and frame opinions and conclusions based on that information. Consumers of a single channel can’t possibly have a well-rounded perspective, they argued. And they’re right.
This puts a tremendous burden on traditional media. Newspapers are rushing to improve their online presence, but most newspaper web sites are regurgitations of their pulp product. Television stations repurpose the same stuff. Radio, well, there’s one station in town getting it right.
Now, enter Google, Yahoo!, MSN and other portals. They introduce another dimension. The portals are becoming a single source of information as aggregators of news reported by multiple media outlets. And Yahoo! is in the process of beefing up its news offerings.
News media won’t disappear. Panelist Dave Kansas, editor of The Wall Street Journal’s Money and Investing section, said that without traditional media, the citizenry wouldn’t be able to produce news. I agree. Though newsroom staffs are shrinking, they still are large at the national level and they have the education, expertise, knowledge and contacts necessary to produce news.
What is changing is the relationship between the reader and the reporter. Media gatekeepers decide which news we get, when we get it and in which format we get it. In the near future, readers will make those decisions, while the reporters will focus on getting the story right and delivering it via the channels we select.
I pondered all this while reading the news on my phone, like I do every day. But I still can’t get my daily newspaper on my phone. (I think I’ve complained about this before, but it doesn’t hurt to do it again…get with it!)
Posted by Rich Sharp at February 22, 2006 8:45 AM