My brother has spent more than 20 years abroad in war zones working to set up new governments, social services, transportation infrastructure, and education and medical care systems. He knows the warlord mentality first hand.
So, I asked him what made the cultures in these areas different. Without hesitation, he answered the free press. There is no watchdog to counteract these malicious and corrupt governments, he explained. There is no free exchange of ideas.
That is a frightening thought for our own country, which has seen newspapers slice staffs by 30 percent since a 2000 peak and eliminate 40,000 full-time professional employees since 1978.
However, while traditional media have been cutting back, new types of digital communication — including social media — have emerged and are playing a growing role in keeping the public informed. In many cases, newsmakers and companies are using websites and social media to reach out to their audiences directly, without the filter of traditional media.
A new report about the changing state of the news media from the Pew Research Center (http://stateofthemedia.org/) shows a direct correlation between the decline of traditional media and a rise in the number of groups and individuals that are using digital technology and social media to take their messages to the public on their own.
Let’s take a closer look. In local TV, sports, weather and traffic now account on average for 40 percent of the content produced on the newscasts studied while individual story lengths are also shorter. Over the last five years, CNN, the cable channel that branded deep reporting, cut the number of produced stories by nearly half. Across the three cable news channels, coverage of live events during the day, which often require a crew and correspondent, fell 30 percent while interview segments, which tend to take fewer resources and can be scheduled in advance, were up 31 percent.
At the same time, a growing list of media outlets, such as Forbes Magazine, use technology by a company called Narrative Science to produce content by way of algorithm — no human reporting necessary. This adds up to a news industry that is undermanned and unprepared to uncover corruption, dig deeper into emerging stories or to question fast-moving developments.
Findings from the public opinion survey released in the Pew report reveal that the public is taking notice. Nearly one-third of respondents (31 percent) have deserted a news outlet because it no longer provides the news and information they have grown accustomed to receiving. An analysis of Census Bureau data by Robert McChesney and John Nichols found the ratio of public relations professionals to journalists grew from 1.2 to 1 in 1980 to 3.6 to 1 in 2008 and the gap continues to widen.
Efforts by corporate entities to get their messages into news coverage are nothing new. What is different now, adding up the data and industry developments, is that news organizations are less equipped to question what is coming to them or to uncover the stories themselves, and interest groups are better equipped and have more technological tools than ever to effectively communicate their messages without any intermediaries.
For news organizations, distinguishing between high-quality information of public value and agenda-driven news has become an increasingly complicated task, made no easier in an era of economic churn.
Matthew Yglesias, a columnist with Slate magazine, says all is not lost – there is some good news to report from all of this. In a recent column, he highlights these three developments:
1. Demand for news is growing, not shrinking: Although it may be coming at the expense of some traditional players, there is clearly a large and growing appetite for news, since the top news websites saw traffic increase by 7 percent in 2012, according to the Pew Report. And the impact of social media seems to be clearly positive, in the sense that those who have heard about news from friends and family through such channels show a stronger interest in finding out more.
2. Sources are going direct: One of the most contentious aspects of the disruption in media is the fact that social tools such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms produce a “democratization of distribution” that allows everyone from celebrities to politicians, and even brands and companies themselves, to reach an audience directly. Is that good or bad for journalism? The debate on that question continues to rage.
3. Increase in the depth and context of news: Today’s media environment lets readers add depth and context to the news since the sources for information are almost limitless. The web’s speed, range and depth for audience access to information are important contributors to the health of journalism, since online information can be shared quickly and there are few limits on distribution.
There also have been enormous advances in productivity that are transforming the industry. Charts and graphs can be manufactured and published in minutes. Public sector data, academic research and think tank reports are at reader fingertips. Email, instant messaging and mobile phones make it easier to contact sources and collaborate with editors.
How is your company adapting to the changing state of the media today? Are you taking advantage of the opportunity to speak directly to your customers and consumers, while making the best use of the current media outlets? We’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic.
