Technology Thailand

"Traditional" media putting the nails on their own coffins?

I read an interesting article in today's The Guardian which quotes the Financial Time's editor Lionel Barber predicting that most news organizations will be charging for online content within a year. Is it just me or does anyone else feel that "traditional" media just keeps on trying to hold onto a failing buisness model?

Barber himself goes on to admit that "How these online payment models work and how much revenue they can generate is still up in the air..."

The model of paid for content is obviously losing ground in today's connected society where content is widely available for free from "new" media companies and organizations as well as from bloggers. Traditional news outlets seem to have more shortcomings exposed as they try to cling onto their old ways of doing business in today's online world. The New York Times had experimented with paid content but did a 360 degree soon after.

Barber goes on to distinguish blogging as opinion-oriented rather than what he calls "crafted journalism", accusing bloggers of not operating along the same standards as those who aspire to and practice crafted journalism, and that they are "happy to report rumor as fact" and leave the fact checking to fellow readers. Hmmm, didn't a "traditional" news organization recently report (though through its iReport) that Steve Jobs had died and later on reported the same for Britney Spears? And correct me if I'm wrong, but does the FT not tout its Lex column for its insightful commentaries, a.k.a. opinionated editorials?

It is also reported that bloggers "... are rarely engaged in the pursuit of original news: Their bread-and-butter is opinion and comment."

Again, I go back to its Lex column and would like to ask how often you find "legitimate" news outlets reprinting articles from AP or Reuters? I cannot tell you how many reprints I've seen in these so-called established media outlets each day. 

However, Barber does give bloggers credit for often being the first to break big stories as well create the "opportunity" for media companies to smarten up (like being laid off gives you the opportunity to spend time at home?). More like forcing media to change their bad habits now that there is legitimate competition, IMHO. 

There are other ways of making a profit without having to charge users for direct access to articles. If your articles are newsworthy, then people will come to read them. The more hits you get,the more advertisements you can sell. If these media companies wish to charge subscribers, then they need to do so by adding value to their content through services. This may include push updates through the form of email text messages throughout the day. Others types of services could be customizable content and presentations based on your selected criteria. Creating applications for mobile phones such as the iPhone and charging a small fee for that while delivering the content to the application for free would certainly make sense. People are more inclined to pay for convenience rather than for something which they have to first go to a Web site for, then "manually" search for articles of interest. 

Has traditional media not seen Twitter catching on like a bush fire ravaging through an Australian forest? Do they not know why people are so addicted to social networking? Sure, people can call up 100 friends to ask how they're doing, but Facebook is a much more efficient tool for their valuable time. And guess what? It's free! This is the same as having to subscribe to 10 newspapers to read their spin on the day's news. Rather than have to navigate 10 Web sites, people would be much happier paying for a service that brings them these articles in a nice bundled package. Heck, charge for RSS delivery if you must. I, for one, would pay for convenience over "manual" labor.

The fact of the matter is, people are getting lazy as technology progresses and content is streamed to their selected portals. Would Netflix thrive and Blockbuster fail if this weren't true? This is not necessarily a bad thing despite my choice of using the word "lazy". Technology is supposed to make life easier and more convenient. And it has. People now have more time to spend with their family, chase their life's passion, and make the most of their free time. This is why these services have thrived so well in the past few years.

If big media wants to make more money, they need to make it worth the reader's while to spend that extra bit of money. I'm sorry to have to make this comparison, but it's just like the argument on why some people prefer the more expensive iPhone to other brands despite the former being behind in implementing the most basic features such as Bluetooth and MMS. My answer is that the iPhone makes having a mobile device fun. So why should people pay for the same drab old content if it hasn't changed much over the past century?

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