THE MEDIA: WHERE TO NOW?

We’ve established that the landscape is changing for the media in Australia, and indeed the world. It seems that media agencies the world over are feeling their way through the current scenario – and most with no small amount of trepidation.

Ron Reed, of News Ltd points out “I don’t know what the long-term future is for newspapers and I doubt that the publishers do, either. We are currently in uncharted waters _ nobody knows for sure what lies over the horizon.”

Inevitably, when change occurs – or businesses prepare for change – there are casualties. There have been a number of high profile redundancies at both Fairfax and News Ltd in recent months. Says Reed, “Both companies have, as a matter of policy, recently shed a lot of journalistic talent, experience and technical know-how which must inevitably have an effect on standards. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the readership to react to that, and whether that increases the pressure on circulations.”

So we now see established businesses some well over 100 years old, not exactly knowing what their next move is.

One thing we can probably say for certain is that if someone gets it right, it will be revolutionary.

But is it reasonable to ask at what cost it might come? Will we sacrifice the high standards of reporting, the impeccably balanced dissemination and analysis? Surely, the talent that has walked out the door at News and Fairfax recently will negatively affect the way we receive information. I think we may be taking this for granted. We need a strong media. A press core which invests heavily in the talent on offer, rather than suppressing it.

What is it that we love about the media? What is it that we loathe about the media?

Have a think about the compromises you would be prepared to make in receiving your information via the press – and more importantly, think about the compromises you wouldn’t be prepared to make.

It's a disgrace that Australians' trust in the local media is lower than virtually any other country in the developed world. According to a study by Edelman public relations, only 32% of us feel trusting toward our media compared to a global average of 49%.

For more info visit this great site on Media and Marketing in Australia 

So is this because the big players are getting lazy.... or because the market has been flooded with smaller online outlets - who don't endure the same regulatory scrutiny as the big players?

I’d love to see some pre-emptive action from high end news outlets to endorse the great art of writing and bring it back into the public’s consciousness. Promote it against the 140 character news breaks that seem to be all the rage today. Instead of the Herald Sun publishing 25 half-column news snippets on footy each day, why not publish 5 large in-depth pieces which explore the issue thoroughly? And then devote more than just half a page to lower-profile sports?

I hope that news agencies remember what is great and noble about journalism and ensure they work to preserve it, regardless of external factors. There should be a premium placed on the art of a fine investigation combined with eloquent reportage.

There is something pure about the fluent telling of a story that needs to be told. I hope that it doesn’t leave us at the expense of the fast-paced, sound-bite shaped missives that we see in online media. Frankly, they often reek of laziness.

There must be an engagement with the audience. Writers should aim to convey nuanced layers of information coated in sharp doses of colour – at once entertaining and informing.

Good journalism shows restraint yet digs to the core of an issue. It builds trust both with its subject and with its audience. It is the light and shade of a story which makes it compelling.

Above all, the media is necessary. You may not realise it. You may not think too hard about it. But its purpose in our lives is undeniable.

Public trust in Australian media among worst in the world, Mumbrella.com, viewed 26^th Sept 2012, http://mumbrella.com.au/public-trust-in-australian-media-among-worst-in-the-world-39477

HOW DOES SPORTS MEDIA WORK IN AUSTRALIA

I’d be lying if I said that my passion for analysing the workings of the media in this country doesn’t  stem from when I was a teenager constantly scouring the sport sections of any newspaper I could my hands on to find out the latest information about my favourite sporting teams. Mind you, when
I say ‘favourite’ I’m speaking fairly loosely. I would read pretty much any article on any team and most sports. From AFL and cricket to European soccer to rugby league and union to horse racing and baseball... I was, and still am, a sports nut.

Over the years, through personal contacts, I’ve had the opportunity to witness the machinations and inner dealings that form the sports media in Australia. It may not be as straight forward as you think.

You see, traditionally, journalists have had to work hard to establish contacts – including rapore and friendship – within sporting clubs and organisations. These contacts will help a journalist out with a story they may be working on by providing quotes or inside information. The payoff is that they can often subsequently push an agenda with said journalist in order to get exposure on a certain topic.

The understanding would often be that anything said off the record stays off the record and the writer treats the contact and their organisation fairly when reporting on them. Sound like a good system? It must be, because it’s worked that way for decades.

But the modern age has blown a fresh wind through this scenario, and a lot of the pieces have been knocked out of place. I used to go straight to the sports sections of the Herald-Sun, The Age and The Australian in the school library when I was a kid to get the latest news. But if I was a teenager these days I would simply follow my favourite clubs on Twitter, or like them on Facebook.

You can do that now! Sports bodies, clubs and even players can reach their supporters first hand now with the greatest of ease, and without the media acting as a filter.

Is sports journalism on its way to becoming obsolete? Well, for one, a sporting body would never publish anything negative about itself – so hopefully that means independent journalists stay relevant. But surely the habitual ‘matey’ atmosphere of mutual benefit that has lived in sports media relationships is a thing of the past?

Sporting entities have their own news outlets these days. The AFL, controversially, now even has its own media company! Rugby League, Racing and Cricket’s national associations have all set up platforms whereby they can inject their own information at will into the public sphere. If done intelligently, they can influence a great deal of the mainstream media agenda.

Says noted Melbourne sportswriter Ron Reed; “The relationship between sport and the media is absolutely critical for the survival and prosperity of both parties. Football is the lifeblood of the Herald Sun, for instance, and the massive interest from all media keeps the major sports afloat. But yes, the nature of the relationship is shifting with the bigger sports... Quite where this is leading remains to be seen but the game is definitely changing.”

One can’t help but think that maybe the old communal partnership system that existed could still be in play today if it weren’t for the fact that media scrutiny on sports stars is so intense today. ‘Off the record’ doesn’t really exist when someone is going through another person’s rubbish at 2am.

I feel that we, the public, the readers, are losing out. This situation means that we do not get the same level of insight, wisdom and first-hand colour from a feature article on one of our sports heroes as we once could’ve expected... because the trust between reporter and subject is swiftly evaporating.

IS OUR MEDIA TRULY INDEPENDENT?

How much influence does private ownership in the media have on reporting? In Australia we have two major newspaper companies; News Ltd and Fairfax. News Ltd is famously owned by Rupert Murdoch, who owns a number of other media companies around the world. Much criticism is directed at the publications in his stables for being too right leaning and conservative. This implies that Murdoch influences the content and opinion which flows into his newspapers.

Mining magnate (why is one a tycoon and one a magnate?) Gina Rinehart earlier this year purchased 15% of Fairfax (publishing company for The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review among others). At a time when many people are questioning the tax incentives and disincentives handed to the lucrative mining sector, is it beyond the pale to think maybe Gina is trying to push her agenda on a supposedly unbiased media platform?

It could simply be another in a long list of shrewd financial investments... or as many have speculated, a cynical attempt to place tighter controls on media interpretation of her business deals.

Realistically, you and I can only speculate. How can we truly claim to know the motives behind this type of action?

If it is the latter, then I guess the next question is; Will it actually work? I’m not entirely certain the top journalists this country has to offer working at the largest news corporations are as weak-willed as we would believe. How much top-down influence would a proud journo be willing to absorb?

In any case, too much biased writing would be bad for business – and surely readers would vote with their feet. Particularly at Fairfax newspapers where much of the content and readership is known to be left-leaning. One would imagine that if the narrative of the opinion articles started to become uncharacteristically supportive of tax support for multi-billion dollar mining companies!

Click here to some in-depth analysis from Australian analysts.

But it begs the question; What do we expect from our journalists in terms of standards of fairness/honesty? What level of scrutiny do we naturally apply to the impartiality of the media? And how do we scrutinise it?

Media Watch is a television staple on the ABC but there have recently been allegations that even they do not apply the same standard on themselves as they do on others. Please have a read here for evidence; http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/taking-a-swipe-at-fairfax-media-watch-ditches-its-own-standards-20120905-25emu.html

We query the deteriorating amount of in-depth analysis and investigation which occurs in the digital age of the media. It’s probably about time we also started asking who is analysing the media. How involved is our government in cracking down on foreign media ownership? And at nullifying personal interest attempts to skew a supposedly impartial media schedule?

There are so many forms and sources of media and information these days, and the big boys like Fairfax are leading the way. Isn’t it time we invested in keeping them honest?

MAINSTREAM JOURNALISM PUSHES INTO THE ONLINE WORLD

The future of traditional media in Australia as we know it is under threat. Most of us grew up with the daily cycle of the morning newspapers and 6pm television news. With the immense growth of social media and online communication can we really expect that to stay the same? Perhaps the more pertinent question is ‘do we actually care?’

Undoubtedly, online media is a growing beast (monster?) that is too big to ignore for media agencies the world over. Look what the daily average circulation of the New York Times was in 2007:

• Online unique users (12 month average):            13,372,000
• Print circulation – weekday:                                       1,120,420
• Print circulation – Sunday:                                          1,627,062

(Karp, 2007)

Perhaps the younger generations (Y & Z) wouldn’t even notice if we said goodbye to hard copy newspapers forever. In this day and age what do they actually add to our lives?? I’m curious to know how many people actually still read newspapers? And by read, I don’t mean just skim through it at a cafe – but actually take the time to invest yourself in an article or a story.

And even if you do, how many of you would mind if you had to get all your news strictly from online sources? How much would it impact your daily routine?

But at the same time, think about this. What sort of effect would this have on journalistic standards in this country? It is not unforeseeable that such a watershed moment could have a knock-on effect which sees the standard of reporting in this country ever-so-slightly deteriorate.

Ron Reed, Contributing Editor for the Herald Sun when recently asked about it said “I think there is so much emphasis now on being first with everything that the art of wordsmithery has taken a bit of a back seat.” This may be a slight blip on the radar – or the beginning of the slippery slope.

“Hopefully, the instantaneous nature of online newsgathering and presentation might lead to newspapers reverting to good writing _ commentary, analysis, eyewitness colour _ as a selling point.”

But what if it doesn’t? I’m curious as to what the next step is...

Arguably, our potential acceptance of diminishing standards from our news-gathers constitutes tacit agreement to further decreases.

So our rush to break every story first leads us to be a little sloppy with our wordplay and paragraph structure... No big deal. So our determination to have our web page updated before the next news agency leads us to be lax with our fact-checking... Surely, that’s forgivable?

So we can get a bigger, faster, sexier scoop if we write what a certain law firm or govt official wants us to write... It’s worth it yeah? The public won’t mind – they’ve put up with everything else.

Am I being too alarmist, or is it possible that the little changes we accept, even take for granted, now are the big problems we will face tomorrow? After all, we are talking about something which we all use and process every day - consciously or not.

Karp, S, Newspaper Online vs Print Ad Revenue; The 10% Problem, viewed on 12^th Sept 2012, http://publishing2.com/2007/07/17/newspaper-online-vs-print-ad-revenue-the-10-problem/

THE MEDIA AS WE KNOW IT

The media is a strange beast. I have taken a strong interest in it since around my mid-teens. It is a powerful information sharing tool which - at its best - provides thorough, insightful, and accurate information to the masses. This information should be thought-provoking and within the public interest. At its worst it can be deceitful, unbalanced and self-interested. Overall, it is hard not to view it as ‘dominant’.

Have a think about exactly how much the media – and the standard of journalism - affects our daily life. As a whole, it dictates what - and to what extent - we know about the world we live in. Our communities, governments, authorities, militaries, sporting teams, culture makers must all stand up to media scrutiny - and indeed stay within the media to remain relevant.  

The evolution of journalism through the ages is a phenomenon really – an entire industry devoted to sharing information with the world. On the face of it, what a simple yet potent concept! Wikipedia tells us journalism is “the discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying and presenting information regarding current events, trends, issues and people”.

I imagine the first forms of this were carvings on cave walls and stone tablets. Language developed and humans might’ve begun to change drawings into words. Words became effective, even compelling, and began to be used in scriptures by scholars, and royalty.

The first newspaper to be published that we know of was the Acta Diurna in Rome in 59BC (Bellis, M). I reckon there may have been some government bias in the writings of the Acta Diurna...

The World Association of Newspapers claims to represent over 18,000 newspapers and publications globally, as well as 15,000 online sites! Think about that scale...

It is an enormous industry, and universities offering journalism courses tend never to have problems filling spots with a huge number of school leavers every year desperate to explore this exciting industry. But things are not as they always have been. The evolutionary path is about to take another twist.

Today the various forms of media and information sharing available to everyday humans is astonishing. The ‘news’ as we know it is changing. Not the content… the industry. Hard copy newspapers that we grew up with are under threat of extinction in the age of the internet. Are physical newspapers viewed in the same way as household telephones once were? I.e., taken for granted?

What sort of effect will this have on the way we gather information? Journalistic standards; will they become better or worse with a new online focus? These are the topics I want to sink my teeth into. I implore you to leave a comment and join in the conversation. Make your opinion heard… After all this is a form of media in the 21^st century – and we the people are more integrated into it than ever before.

Bellis, M, Timeline of the Newspaper Industry, About.com, viewed 10^th Sept 2012, http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/printing_4.htm

About WAN-IFRA, WAN-IFRA, viewed 10^th Sept 2012, http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/printing_4.htm