Reading 14: Media Futures

Reading 14 from the CD ROM was an interesting article, especially since it discusses the future of the media.

Titled ‘Media Futures’ and dated 12 May 2005, the reading is actually a transcript from a radio program called ‘The Media Report’ on Radio National by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

With the advent of the Internet having affected traditional news mediums like TV and newspapers, blogging is being considered a serious threat to the existence of newspapers. Especially so in the US, where publishers are trying to adjust to changes like the shift of advertising online and weakened reader attachment.

Host Richard Aedy asked his guest, Jay Rosen, a journalism lecturer from New York University whether blogging would make journalism better. According to Mr Rosen, blogging would definitely make for better journalism as the competition to be heard heats up, prompting journalists to work harder at their craft.

As Aedy and Rosen argue, anyone could freely express themselves through a blog, resulting in more voices heard, and thus threatening the work that journalists do. For example, in the United States, ‘independent journalists’ are on the rise – people who publish information and gather news but do not belong to any large news organisation.

On another note, a subject they discussed that was of particular interest to me was how the public relations industry would adapt to the changes affecting the media industry, especially since they rely on the mass media to send their messages across.

Having practiced PR early on in my career, with intentions to go back into a PR role in the near future, I was dismayed to read Mr Rosen’s opinion that the industry was ‘in deep trouble.’

While he’s right that public relations is about shaping messages and delivering it across the mass media, I personally don’t feel it’s a dying industry, well not in Singapore anyway!

There are countless organisations here that have not fully maximised the potential of PR and the traditional newspaper and television stations are not going to go out of business as yet.

As much as people go on about the death of traditional news mediums, I for one believe it’s not going to happen anytime soon. Yes, advertising revenues and content have suffered of late but can we really imagine a paperless society or fully integrated multimedia platform combining internet and television technology in every home in the next 10 years? I don’t think so!