The Mixing of Old and New Media
Friday, May 11, 2007
This week the topic of new media infringing on the old was brought up at the 56th annual National Cable & Telecommunications Association conference. Reuters reported that executives from the industry “said talk of the demise of traditional media in the digital age was overblown.” Elaborating that television still has a firm place in the homes of media consumers and that the “new” technologies have actually resparked interest for some. This type of talk is to be expected from media moguls, and there is also truth in their claims. YouTube, for example, drove thousands to Saturday Night Live after million watched Justin Timberlake perform with Andy Samburg that hilarious Christmas song Andy wrote. Of course, such admitted claims beg the question of why Viacom would be suing YouTube if there is such potential to gain viewership. Regardless, Internet has yet to conquer the complete entertainment spectrum. After all, is there any substitute to sitting in front of the television and being amused so effortlessly? In my opinion, clicking around on the computer screen is not an equivalent… yet. However, what clearly is in peril is the news business. Because while I enjoy watching my favorite TV shows the old fashioned way, I prefer reading my news online. As PR people, we are keenly aware of this phenomenon. We have discussed it at length on this very blog. This week, I ran across another example of how print media can perhaps salvage itself by changing with the times. A new free Boston weekly print publication, BostonNow, has started printing commentary submitted by local bloggers to its website. Editor, John Wilpers, felt this unique inclusion would spike interest in the newspaper by adding a distinct community feel. In a CNET article, Wilpers explained, “It doesn't take a whole lot of smarts to look out at the Internet and see thousands writing on their communities, whether they be geographic or thematic." So why not include their thoughts in print? In this exchange, Wilpers also hopes to generate fans for the bloggers as the bloggers are not paid for their submissions. Instead, it’s a form of free advertising. And with a circulation of 85,000, it’s not a terrible waste of time on the blogger’s behalf. Another point worth noting is that the bloggers’ posts will be scanned by an editor so as to ensure similar standards that we have come to expect from news sources. This notion is certainly interesting and we will have to see whether others adopt the convergence of blogs into the print world in quite this same way. Perhaps this trend will spark interest with the older generation to be more blogger-friendly and for the younger generation to be more newspaper-friendly. For those of you who are wondering why anyone would even bother to create a new print publication, it is safe to say that print still has a pretty healthy pulse. As e-books are still in their infancy and Internet is inaccessible underground, for us urban commuters, print media is actually still very relevant. Labels: blog, new media, pr, Youtube
posted by Gina Bolotinsky
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1 Comments:
I work for a printing house that also does print and web design. Although we do most of our design work for business and entertainment advertising, we do have several clients running political campaigns as well. It's interesting to see online campaigning exploding, and competing with traditional commercial ads for the big campaign bucks, but lucky for us, there has been no slowdown in the need for print design and printing of campaign materials, so that's one area, at least, where print media is still going strong.
It's cool to find a blog covering similar topics to my own over at Hotcards. I seem to be in a perpetual state of puzzling over the future of print design, so it's nice to see I'm not alone!
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