From Mere Dogs to Writers; From Storytellers to Broadcasters

(This is part two of a loose narrative of the evolution of traditional media in the last 10 years. Basically, it’s my opinion dovetailing last week’s commentary.)

A couple months ago, Dave Morgan, CEO of a marketing company in New York City, wrote a blog article for MediaPost called, “The Fourth Estate for the Future“.  (Read my earlier post addressing the blurring of borders between journalists and marketers.) In it, he wonders who is going to fulfill the role of the watchdog? And to this day about how he developed his argument. By the end of his well-written article he declares:

“I think that we should stop mourning the Fourth Estate. I think that we should stop spending so much time and money trying to find new business models to support the outdated, costly and wasteful media distribution methods of old, and focus instead on building a new Fourth Estate that leverages all of these new, amazing, inexpensive and accessible — and, many times, free — Web-based information platforms that can impact a billion people around the world in real time.”

It’s a big concern.

To make a few things clear, let’s break down the question. First, regarding the watchdog. I am reminded of a grad school professor who used to proselytize that there were three types of journalists: bulldogs, watch dogs and lap dogs. I think we have all criticized articles written by reporters who wore any one of these hats—either by being too hard on a source, too hands-off, or just plain cozied up. The point is: all those dogs are writing stories. Stories that will draw eyes to the paper, and sell advertising space right next to their articles. Those stories are essentially the product we don’t want to lose.

Second, is remembering the role of the reporter, which is to write stories that appear next to coupons that Macy’s advertisers can tally to measure ROI. If I’m a savvy reporter who wants to move up the career food chain in a beat of my choosing, I may write a fluff piece that will get noticed by the apples of my eye and their competition. Basically, they produce the product—not the printing press, not the video cameras, not the endless “tubes” connecting one unmanned computer to the other.

Third, is realizing that the channels of distribution are (also) not the product but rather part of the marketing package to get the product out to the marketplace of ideas.

The traditional channels of distribution have their limitations.

Indeed, Morgan is right in calling them “media distribution methods of old”, because the old distribution methods are limited by concerns regarding space (cost of column inch on paper—real estate), production (cost of staff writers’ salaries, cost of paper, cost of ink, capital costs of the printing press, etc.), distribution (getting content before readers’ eyes) etc.

Considering the costs of simply conducting business, one can quickly see the potential for diminishing returns for print. As for broadcast and digital distribution methods, while there are a limited number of seconds and minutes in every day—the airwaves and cyberspace is limitless. (Regarding traditional broadcast, access to the airwaves is controlled by only a few, but the internet has managed to decentralize control, hence the current conundrum and wide potential we face today regarding the business model for the creation and distribution of news.)

As we have seen in countless articles, the traditional, commercial business model of matching content and eyeballs, eyeballs and advertisers through print and broadcast media is losing (or has lost) its stronghold. But that doesn’t mean the core product (the news, the article, the story) is inherently flawed. As long as news is current, fresh and well-reported, there will be people who will want to acquire it. In my opinion, what’s really being challenged here are the other three marketing elements (remember the 4 Ps of marketing) to provide a quality packaging and delivery of this product in the marketplace of ideas.

(Check in next week, as I share my opinion on what it is we’re mourning about the major changes we’re witnessing in traditional news media.)