3 Reasons Traditonal Media Will Fail Online

Author: Matt

10 Oct

I chuckled after reading Ben Parr’s story yesterday on Mashable entitled, “AP and News Corp: Facebook, YouTube, Google Are Exploiting Us.” Within Ben’s story he quoted the shared frustrations coming from Tom Curley (AP) and Rupert Murdoch (News Corp):

Tom Curley: “Crowd-sourcing Web services such as Wikipedia, YouTube and Facebook have become preferred customer destinations for breaking news, displacing Web sites of traditional news publishers. We content creators must quickly and decisively act to take back control of our content.”

Tom Curley: “We will no longer tolerate the disconnect between people who devote themselves - at great human and economic cost, to gathering news of public interest and those who profit from it without supporting it,”

Rupert Murdoch: “The aggregators and plagiarists will soon have to pay a price for the co-opting of our content. But if we do not take advantage of the current movement toward paid content, it will be the content creators, the people in this hall, who will pay the ultimate price and the content kleptomaniacs who triumph.”

When on earth are traditional media outlets going to understand that consumers aren’t out to get them but rather would prefer their news faster and throughout a variety of different mediums (social media included)?

Here are my 3 Reasons Traditional Media Will (Has) Fail Online:

1 - It’s All About Your Reader…Not You! Case and point from the quotes above from Curley and Murdoch, folks aren’t trying to take anything away from anyone, we’re just listening and responding to the needs of news consumers.

2 - Its Almost Too Late - Traditional media outlets have seen this coming for some time and for whatever reason never put any value into the fact that consumers demanded their information throughout such mediums. With the exception of a select few (WSJ & USA Today…in my opinion) most are trying to play catch-up when so many of their audience has already left seeking other means for their news fix.

3 - People Don’t Want to Pay $ For Free News - Until traditional media outlets realize that in today’s world access to news is free (and will be for good) they will continue to fail and subscription numbers will plummet even faster. Don’t get me wrong, they should provide paid content but only after they begin offering what the consumers want to see such as video, transparency, consumer feedback, etc.

Do you think traditional media still has a shot within the online world? I’d love to continue this conversation:)

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Filed under: Media Relations, Social Media

4 Responses for "3 Reasons Traditonal Media Will Fail Online"

Kasey Skala October 10th, 2009 at 10:35 am 1
Matt, here is what I struggle with. We demand instant, real-time news. We thrive on breaking news, sharing content and spreading information. As of now, that information is generally free. But as traditional print begins to evolve and, if they go the route Murdoch wants, begin to charge, where do we begin to get that content?

You, myself, and many others of stated that they will not pay for content. That the paid or subscription model will not work for traditional print. So if newspapers can’t make money, won’t they stop reporting? Will we rely on broadcast journalism for our news content? And if so, will that truly be instant and 24/7?

So it’s almost a catch-22. We need online news outlets to feed us information so we can pass that information on. But we’re not willing to pay for that service.

I also don’t think the hyperlocal angle is sustainable option either. It’s a tough & interesting debate.
Ari Herzog October 11th, 2009 at 5:56 am 2
Our content? Our content?

Hello, Mr. Murdoch, you do not create content. You report content. So do I. You and I, Mr. Murdoch, are equals, along with Mr. Batt. Once you recognize we are equals in content creation and distribution, you will recognize we are not aggregators and plagiarists. If you fail to recognize this, you may as well label yourself the same–or shall I remind you why Fox-TV and NBC report the same content? Is NBC a plagiarist too?
Matt October 11th, 2009 at 5:44 pm 3
Kasey - I agree that traditional media is an important part of our information download. What I really struggle with is why Murdoch and others in traditional won’t embrace the fact that other resources now exist (bloggers, social networking, etc.)? I’m all about them charging for it…if they can do it in a way where they embrace this new delivery. We’ll have to see:).

Ari - I think you’ve nailed it on the head! What would you suggest as an ideal plan moving forward for traditional media? Curious to hear your thoughts on this.

Great dialog & thanks for stopping by!
amymengel October 14th, 2009 at 4:25 am 4
I think “traditional media” has its best shot in the online world by providing what readers can’t necessarily get from Google News or Wikipedia - deeper rather than broader content (like investigative or profile pieces) and news content that’s very local and specific. Newspapers don’t break news anymore and the shift should be towards creating valuable, unique, localized content that they can serve ads against.