Unfolding events in the world today send clear signals that traditional media, which comprises Radio, Television and Newspapers are facing an extremely daunting challenge that even threatens its very existence. An internationally renowned media expert, Mr. Ron Wimer, who held senior positions at various major US, British and French media conglomerates, with over 30 years of experience both as a journalist and media scholar, recently awakened many stakeholders in the Nigerian media industry as well as many others globally, from their long and deep slumber, with an alarming revelation he made on the looming recession facing major newspaper, cable, television and radio broadcast companies in the United States and Europe that forced many of them to either close their doors completely, or engage in radical cut in staff strength, serious reduction in staff salary among other expenses in order to remain in business.
Mr Wimer, who was the founder of Press Box Limited, a partnership of Ango-American media professionals, spread across London, Paris, Geneva, New York and Nairobi, while addressing a group of journalists at a seminar recently organized by the United States Embassy Public Affairs office in Abuja, revealed that famous newspaper giants like the New York Times, L.A. Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Boston Globe all in the United States had to adopt radical austerity measures for them to survive the imminent recession in the industry that hit the print media the most. The broadcast media was not immune as well, because it is on record, that powerful radio broadcast media outfits like the BBC and VOA had to close several of their international language sections among other radical review in their expenses for them to contain the damage. While cable news media giants like the CNN, Fox News among others are steadily losing a large percentage of their audience on a daily basis. In short, the present alarming recession in the traditional media industry globally could best be described as a tenacious wild fire that is sweeping through the industry, which has the capacity of consuming all the traditional television, radio and newspaper businesses completely if care was not taken.
The traditional media is experiencing this seemingly insurmountable challenge primarily as a result of the phenomenal growth of the new media also referred to as online media, which was a product of information branch of technology, the most powerful among all its branches; a fast growing force that is rapidly redefining the new world order. This era is regarded as golden age for technology, as no single phenomenon characterized the development of the world today more than technology, which advances rapidly and literally at the speed of light. This technological advancement is rapidly changing the way almost everything works in this world.
It is rather an irony, that the mass media, which could be said to be the major beneficiary of technology, which served as the catalyst of its rapid development in the last two centuries, but today the mass media could be described as the major casualty of the same technology. The advent of information technology (IT) is increasingly making it easier for people to access breaking news, live updates, extensive details, balanced report and generally all information of their interests more conveniently using their laptops, ipads, mobile phones and other portable ICT devices, virtually without costing them a dime. This trend is increasingly making new media the primary and more reliable source of unfiltered and uncensored information to hundreds of millions of people around the world.
Internet blogs, websites, news portals, facebook, twitter, you tube, google, yahoo, podcast and webcast, and even the short messaging system (SMS) are all new media, which comprehensively bridged the information gap of the past, and broke all geographical barriers to communication. The new media revolution enables everybody to become a journalist at little cost and with global reach. This is something that has never been possible before, but today it is as real as life and death, thus putting the profession and various mass media channels in great danger. The entire mass communication system is witnessing a revolution that was never anticipated before.
The new media is winning this battle hands-down because of so many reasons. One has to do with credibility issue, which the traditional media is losing it because of flagrant bias and subjective reporting in order to protect the interests of those that provide them with finances, or other narrow interests. In the same vein, the online media could said to be even more subjective than the traditional media, but the consumer has an unlimited access to both sides of the story, and therefore, could draw the balance himself. Secondly, while ethical codes limit the traditional media’s access to certain information protected by law, online media outfits like the wikileaks could dig and hack into highly confidential materials and reveal them to the world, instantly and rapidly via the internet for free. Thirdly, while audience reach of television and radio are limited to apportioned air waves and newspaper, to physical circulation, the online media defies all barriers and defines its boundaries only by the reach of internet and telecommunication services, which is of course worldwide.
Also, while the conventional media only offers a very concise bit of information, which they consider important to the audience, due to time and space constraints, the new media defies those constraints, and offers the information in its entirety, even with links and references that could directly lead the audience to the source giving the people the right to decide what part of the information is important rather than submitting to the judgment of a few individuals, sitting round an editorial table, taking decisions on their behalf. Similarly, facebook, twitter, my space among other social networks continue to earn an entrenched role as the primary source of information and breaking events for the hundreds of millions of people connected to one another, in a more subtle, informal, flexible and unconventional style that give the people an appealing impression of being part of the dissemination process, not just at the receiving end.
The world of computers, internet, telecommunications and IT generally has now become an indispensable part of our lives, such that many people could risk losing their minds if that IT part of them were to be snatched away. This sticky-intimate bond, unprecedented reach, absolute freedom of information and expression and an unrivalled ease and convenience to access information, which IT provides, could be described as the major factors that are causing this radical shift from the traditional media to the new media.
Today, for most people, television means cable and a nonstop stream of reality shows, soap operas and celebrity gossip. The channels are increasingly tilting towards very thin slice of life and satisfying less and less of the needs of the people, contrary to what TV used to be before, of having a little of something for everyone, in addition to authoritative news bites at intervals. Also, playing the tunes of interests that pay the piper is steadily eroding audience confidence on the traditional media. Similarly, those in the rural areas who had no access to television, and who depended on radio as their primary source of information, plus many other urban dwellers, who love radio broadcasts for what is worth, can now access the broadcasts via their mobile phones. Therefore, online radio and television broadcasts are fast becoming viable alternatives to on-air broadcasting, which is limited by signal range, whereas online broadcasting knows no boundaries. In regards to the print media, today, newspaper readership habit has also dropped drastically, especially among persons under the age of 30, because they can lay their hands easily on all the information the papers could offer them and even more. It is no more news that today, people get breaking news and live updates, download and watch live stream of their favourite movies and series easily and conveniently using their handsets, laptops, ipads and other ICT gadgets with all their interactive features. It is evident that the new media is rapidly becoming more powerful than the traditional media and that it has the capacity to influence socio-political changes in the world. It could be vividly recalled, that the new media had last year, tested its power to do just that, during the Middle-east and North African revolution that succeeded in bringing down many powerful governments in the region.
In addition, the new media has provided a much better bargain and more advantageous platform for advertisers, who were the major source of finance to the traditional media. Now they could save huge amount of money they would have used to buy airtime on radio and television or space on newspapers in order to promote their interests. In addition to the economic benefit, the new media also provides the advertisers with the ability to reach more market, monitor the exact number of people that viewed the adverts as well as the capability to receive instant feedbacks, inquiries and comments directly from the target audience or end users, from any part of the world. This has led to a sudden shift by advertisers to the new media at the detriment of the traditional media; a situation, coupled with the global economic meltdown is making it extremely difficult for many television, radio and newspaper outfits especially those that are not owned by government to gather enough finances to cater for their human and material needs.
It is however said that not all that glitters is gold. The new media also has its own negative side of the coin. One of its disadvantages is the absence of any limitation or defined boundary, in terms of its accessibility, content and reach. This could lead to information over-flow and the resultant consequences of breakdown of public harmony, moral decadence, etc. Another disadvantage of the new media is its feature that makes anyone a journalist with a global reach. This could lead to serious damage in the fundamental ethics of the profession. Another danger posed by the new media is that many professionally trained journalists would eventually lose their jobs because the traditional media industry would continue to shrink. Similarly, many professional journalists, would face serious problem in adjusting to the new media system, which represents a sharp contradiction to the basic ethics of core journalism. More profoundly, the economic crisis that the new media would create, as a result of the collapse of the traditional media, would definitely be catastrophic.
Indeed, this unfortunate situation is a strong reason for serious concerns among stakeholders in the media industry globally, which has now forced them to go back to the drawing board in order to review their business models and evolve effective strategies that would get them out of the deadlock. As part of such efforts, many newspapers, cables, television and radio stations have now resolved to open an online version of their services, accessible through subscription in order to make some money, but the strategy seems not to be working effectively as expected. There is therefore, a raging discourse among experts and researchers all over the world in search for a landmark breakthrough that would ensure the continued survival of the traditional media side-by-side the new media.
However, the good news for the Nigerian media and developing countries generally, is the fact that this imminent new media revolution is at this stage, sweeping through the developed world more profoundly, where there is a significant advancement in IT and internet services. It may therefore, take some time to reach this part of the world, which gives stakeholders in the industry in the developing countries, relatively some time to re-strategize and review their business models among other precautionary measures before it gets here.
It is true that old is gold, but that does not mean that new changes should be overlooked or even cast aside. Some of the measures that can be taken by the traditional media towards addressing the situation include, identifying and exploring alternative sources of revenue. The traditional media must also move away from regarding the new media as an enemy and treat it as a partner in progress, and work towards striking mutually beneficial relationship. Practitioners in the traditional media industry must also make serious efforts in adjusting with the new trend. They need to become computer literate, use their professionalism to take over the practice from self-certified online journalists, apply more creativity and innovation to be able to sufficiently satisfy their new audience, who are global in nature, with all their ethno-religious pluralism, socio-cultural diversities, divergent political inclination and varying economic status.
The traditional media need to work assiduously towards making changes in line with the needs of the people and the dynamics of the business world, in the face of the raging information technology revolution. The traditional media, which comprises radio, television and newspapers that hitherto served as the most powerful channels of mass communication, may not seize to exist, at least not in the next couple of decades, but unless concrete measures are evolved, it will continue to fade, become irrelevant and ultimately lose it to the promising new media.
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