Some Back Pagers may’ve noticed the, erm, spirited exchange between self and J. Black of this parish subsequent to my Blog, ‘Paper Tiggers’. And if so, this the text of a letter I recently wrote to the Meedja Grauniad referred to therein may put it somewhat in perspective. If not, well what the hell.
“Oliver Luft and James Robinson’s piece on freelance woes (April 6th) had a resonance far beyond the newspaper industry but lacked the causal analysis which it merited. Migrating content onto the web where it can be consumed for free was a seen as a smart marketing tool by newspaper and magazine publishers alike, with the added prospect of attracting additional ad. revenues from the extra exposure.
But having become inured to free content, many (and soon most) readers aren’t willing to pay for ink on paper anymore and advertisers have driven down rates for internet advertising thanks to the vastly increased competition. Furthermore, if publishers continue to cut staff and freelance rates in response to declining revenues, the vicious circle will continue because core readers, especially the older ones with longer attention spans, who still value the tactile experience of ‘old media’ will be dismayed at the loss of quality, pagination and familiar bylines, prompting further desertions. As for a generation of consumers weaned on digital media, well they’re lost to us.
Now that the genie is out of the bottle, the print media’s failure to find a revenue model for web publishing may be it’s ultimate downfall, although a united effort to get ISPs to rake a minute levy for each page viewed could be its only viable solution. But as newspaper proprietors proved when they broke ranks with the advent of the daily freesheets (which have further undone their profitability), unity in this business is a tall order. Except, perhaps, when it comes to panic.”
They probably won’t publish it, anyway.
Don’t forget to eyeball my website (with its link to other Blogisms), www.markwilliamsmedia.co.uk
4 Responses to More Media Moaning
Me again, i’m afraid.
“the vicious circle will continue because core readers, especially the older ones with longer attention spans, who still value the tactile experience of ‘old media’ will be dismayed at the loss of quality, pagination and familiar bylines, prompting further desertions.”
This surely precisely where the problem lies. Old folks like us enjoy reading. Young people apparently don’t (although they consume Harry Potter in huge quantities).
Paper publishers have shot themselves in the foot (and us in the heart) by pandering to people who don’t like to read. The policy of more and bigger pictures with ever shorter features, preferably in the form of lists, is predicated on the idea of trying to appeal to people who, as i said before, don’t like to read. That’s got to be insane and it drives away those who do like to get immersed in the twists and turns and complexities of a good story, be it fact or fiction.
And, even if it is true that people in general have shorter attention spans, surely that’s something our society should be addressing from primary school onwards.
How will kids ever grasp the big ideas at the heart of all politicial life and society and art if they’re never exposed to or taught how to enjoy sentences with more than a handful of words in them? Or how to follow a logically developed argument?
And how will they ever return to print journalism or even to online journalism if they’re not shown how to appreciate those things?
We can’t just throw our hands up in the air and blame kids cartoons and adspeak and soundbite politics and crap Hollywood movies and low budget sitcoms and reality tv for destroying children’s ability to focus for more than ten seconds.
Anyone who ever watched a kid immersed in a video game knows they can concentrate 100% for very long periods indeed if they’re interested in what they’re doing.
Intriguingly, my son was having learning difficulties with language until he learned to read by playing Zelda on his console. The game had captions and he realised he had to understand those to play the game. So he applied himself, literally taught himself, to read them. He’s now an avid reader and writer, studying philosophy and loving it.
It’s up to us to help the next generation back towards an understanding of the value of the written word. Maybe then, publishers, digital or otherwise, will start to cater for them.
Yes, that’s a long way off, it’s a long-term solution, but don’t we need that at least as much as we need a quick fix?
I think there are still plenty of young people who enjoy reading, but I agree, the modern world caters for short attention spans. Part of the problem may be what young people are exposed to nowadays in terms of potential distractions – being a teenager in the ’80s, I could quite easily submerge myself in a book, and the only thing that would distract me would be the home phone. But nowadays, with mobiles, you can’t ever escape the tyranny of the phone – and if you don’t answer, well then people will send you texts, and when you reply, they’ll send you more. Plus there’s the ever-present temptation to check your e mails, glance at facebook, comment on other people’s status updates, peruse one of two other websites. The time left for reading is much less than in the past.
The other thing the era of computers has heralded is the emphasis placed on broadcasting the opinions of everyone on everything. Don’t get me wrong, I think forums and blogs are a great thing – and after all, the fanzines and punk bands I adored were the explosion of the voices of the previously disenfranchised. but with fanzines, forums, blogs etc, people can choose whether or not to read them. But if you’re watching the news, especially ITV news but also, latterly, on the BBC, you no longer get news items presented only by the experts, you also have the roving reporters wandering up and down streets asking ordinary people for their opinions. That has its place, but sometimes I don’t want to hear Mrs Bloggs pontificate on the global crisis, I’d rather hear the experts hammer it out. This democratisation of opinion perhaps means that to some young people, buying a newspaper and reading the views of experts – people who have written about their field for decades – may no longer be a priority. They may be so used to reading the bare bones of each story and then hearing the opinions of various ordinary people that they may not place such importance on the experts’ view. Perhaps the wisdom of veteran rock writers has become diluted by the cacophony of twittering from people who want their voices to be heard but may not necessarily have the knowledge to impart information in a useful way.
It’s a similar kind of thing with reality programmes like Big Brother. I have to admit to a slightly voyeuristic fascination with BB – I enjoy the way it allows me to gain insight into other people’s personalities and private lives . But it’s very much the people making the people’s TV. And, since that has now become the norm, I think many people brought up on that would baulk at watching, say, documentaries made by people who know what they’re talking about, or reading novels which might take more concentration than flicking through the latest Heat.
I don’t think it’s all doom and gloom, though – I’ve heard that book sales have soared since the recession started, so obviously a lot of people still enjoy good quality writing. As regards newspapers, I guess what’s needed is a way of making them relevant and attractive to young people without dumbing them down or pandering to the celeb fascination that sells many tabloids. Not an easy problem to solve.
Both Johnny and Leyla astutely dissect the reasons for reduced reading habits, especially amongst the young who would otherwise be the coming generation of book, mag and newspaper readers.
I’d agree on all counts, and Johnny’s ‘bullet in the foot’ reference reflects my original ‘genie out of bottle’ metaphor re. publishers’ wholesale migration of content onto the interweb without foreseeing the grim consequences which, frankly I found extradordinary. A few, e.g. Financial Times, Economist, have managed to monetise their web content from the get-go with fair success, others (e.g. New York Times) tried to do it in arrears and predictably failed.
I’m afraid I’m less optimistic than either Leyla or Johnny as to where print media goes from here, and whilst I’m faintly bemused by the former’s claims about “the wisdom of veteran rock writers” – huh, who on earth are you referring to here?! – I don’t think anyone under 25 wants useful information unless it’s some ‘cheats’ for Grand Theft Auto – the Chinatown Chronicles or who’s showing their bum on Bebo.
In fact all the ‘papers and most mags are dumbing down and truncating their content so’s to pander to the presumed tastes (and low attention spans) of younger generations, but as I originally opined, this (a) doesn’t work and (b) pisses of their core (older) reasons.
Having said that, I’ve made a couple of serious stabs at getting trad. publishers to launch new mags specifically aimed at our (print-loving) generation which have failed because of their refusal to value them as consumers… and this despite reams of incontrovertible research data, and I’m sure other ex-inky managers of my age have done ditto. But so far nothing’s materialised and, sadly, I rather doubt it will.
Sorry about my continuing pessimism but this is an area I’ve studied in some depth and with several friends (including my girlfriend) who being of a certain age have been summarily jettisoned by the newspaper in favour of younger, cheaper but inexperienced hacks and editors, I see nothing hopeful on the horizon.
Please visit my website: http://www.markwilliamsmedia.co.uk
I hope it’s clear that I wasn’t referring to myself when I talked about ‘experts’ and ‘veteran rock writers’
I haven’t written for the music press for an embarrassingly long time. And my knowledge of music is very limited because of that – but I still love hearing the points of view of people who’ve stayed in the music scene.
I do hope the situation for freelancers improves in the future. Obviously, now is a particularly bleak time for writers because of the economic crisis, but hopefully there’ll come a time in the not-too-distant future when there will be a demand for papers again. And if that doesn’t happen, then maybe once the global monetary crisis is over, freelancers who have been sorely neglected by editors for the last few years can find alternative media in which to work. TV has an aching hole as far as well-informed contemporary music programmes are concerned – maybe some new programmes which will be to music what Top Gear is to car buffs – irreverent, entertaining (well, so my boyfriend tells me), but still informative. We’re seeing Simon Schama, Niall Ferguson, David Starkey make history sexy, Andrew Graham-Dixon make art compelling, The Culture Show do a good job of covering film, music and art, so I think there’ll be a good appetite for some more excellent music programmes in the future.