|
October 15, 2009
In his A.N. Smith Memorial Lecture in Journalism 2009 Mark Scott, the ABC's Managing Director, argues that the media empires of yesterday, which once controlled the world, are now in decline. That is a succinct account of the historical process we are living through. The good times for the old media empires are not coming back. They've gone. I'll refrain from commenting on Scott's dubious Rome analogy.
Scott says (video that though some fundamental weaknesses in the traditional publishing and broadcasting model (print and television) were evident long before the internet revolution, that revolution means that anyone can instantly publish on the web. This, in turn, has shifted power to audiences, the power to choose what they would see and read, from where and when.
Scott understands the significance of the internet revolution. He adds that in the world of fragmenting content and audiences the old media empires are waiting to see what Murdoch does. They:
seem largely out of solutions – and instead challenge reality by seeking to deny a revolution that’s already taken place by attempting to use a power that no longer exists, by trying to impose on the world a law that is impossible to enforce.
In the world of Google, Yahoo and Twitter the old media no longer set the rules. Though locking up content behind a paywall means drying up traffic, clearly the pay model will work for some things. However, Scott's main point is true: the survivors will be those who face up to how the world is, not as they might want it to be.
So where to for the ABC as a public broadcaster during the internet revolution? Scott argues that in contrast to the Murdochs, the ABC's response is more nimble and innovative. It involves:
reengineering our newsrooms to deliver quality news when our audience wants it, not just when we schedule it. Turning our local radio stations into media hubs – full of content generated for broadband, user-generated content, being a community town square...Being audience, not organisationally-centred ... affects the way we organise ourselves, the way we work together and cooperate, the way we partner with others, the way we need to cede some space, some control to our audiences to remain compelling and relevant. If we are to survive as anything more than a shell – a legacy broadcaster, an empire in decline – this is what we must do.
That strategy recognizes that a media organisation that doesn’t make audience contribution a central part of their strategy, fades to black. However, the town hall metaphor was not unpacked by Scott. It still remains a metaphor about a possible future with little content, other than the suggestion about the turn to the hyperlocal.
At this stage the ABC, for its nimbleness in embracing Twitter, will still be the ABC with just a little more commentary and user content generated from the audience. However Margaret Simons on Content Makers says that:
I think the battle between public broadcasters on the one hand, and those who want to make us pay for content will be the key media fight in the early part of this century.. It might be described as the battle between “control” media and “participatory” media. (Thanks to Bronwen Clune for those terms). Scott’s speech should be seen in that context.
The key media fight has been won--witness the free content provided by The Guardian and the New York Times. What we are witnessing is a rearguard action by Murdoch and his allies.
Update
The strongest part of Mark Scott's speech was looking back to the world disappearing into the slipstream of history and the lesson who drew from his fall of empires narrative ---public broadcasters needing to be innovative, respecting their audience and engagment with social media. Apparently this old news was a revelation to the media audience.
The weakest part of Scott's speech was the failure to unpacking what is meant by “participatory” media for a public broadcaster and then connecting this to media policy. What needs to happen in media policy for the ABC and SBS to become innovative in developing the “participatory” media experiment?
|
Murdoch's big problem is that he wants us to pay for his garbage. The trouble here is that he doesn't recognize that it is garbage.