Serendipity
Column: Traditional mass media, in competition with personalized online communication, also offer surprising journeys to exotic destinations, writes Josefa Haas.
Column In competition with individualized web communication, traditional mass media also offer surprising journeys into exotic realms.media convey knowledge and experiences to which we would otherwise have no or very difficult access. We look at newspapers, magazines, books and websites and listen to radio programs and podcasts. They guarantee that we are one experience richer after enjoying the content. These media provide us with unforeseen encounters, new insights and surprising perspectives. We often find something we weren't even looking for, and the strength of the media is serendipity. This term is used in the sociology of science to describe chance observations that lead to surprising discoveries. Serendip was the Persian name for what is now Sri Lanka. Legend has it that three princes discovered the island by chance. Like the princes, media users also embark on a journey in which they occasionally lose sight of their destination and instead venture into exotic landscapes.
In contrast, the individualized communication offerings resemble real allotment gardens: only fruits that you have planted yourself grow there. Wild growth is neatly weeded out and excluded. However, what makes sense for cabbage and potatoes also makes sense when searching for simple information, such as addresses and telephone numbers on the Internet. In this form of information dissemination, the focus is on efficiency; creativity would be a waste of time and energy. Web communities bring together people with the same interests, ideas and goals. Thanks to the WWW, they can exchange information and support each other globally. Instead of geographical confinement, there is ideal confinement.
If you don't want to lose sight of the rest of the world, take a look at the general interest media: daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, full programs from radio and television stations and corresponding websites. These media confront us with information and thoughts that we have searched for or found by chance. Our loyalty to these media is also a consequence of our trust in their services: Der Spiegel, which celebrates its sixtieth birthday this week, is a seduction specialist for long reading trips. After trying to follow journalistic fashions for a while, it has returned to its tradition of storytelling. Readers get involved with topics that do not affect them personally in a virulent way. But they know that reading them always holds a surprise or two.
Serendipity defines the possibilities and limits of editorial marketing. Knowing what the audience wants is all well and good. Ideally, this can be used to analyze the past and map the present. However, those who allow market research to dictate the future will miss out on every trend. Media thrive on creativity, which always involves a step into the unknown. Without the courage to take risks, media products remain a copy of everyday life. Because we know something: There is an audience that wants to be surprised.
However, editorial offices are often allotments themselves and often function according to the principle of "birds of a feather flock together". Openness to the unfamiliar or strange is not without its limits, even among journalists. Curiosity can also be more or less general. For editorial offices, this is only productive to a limited extent if it is restricted to new episodes of the same old soap opera.
Editorial teams must therefore be willing to embrace new ideas. Thanks to an editorial culture that promotes and cultivates diversity, openness and respect for the unfamiliar, surprising perspectives can open up. For media that do not operate in niche markets, but are aimed at the mixed user base of a region, diversity is a must. Exotic plants therefore belong in the gardens, and the gardeners have to take a trip here and there.
Josefa Haas is Head of the Media Institute
In contrast, the individualized communication offerings resemble real allotment gardens: only fruits that you have planted yourself grow there. Wild growth is neatly weeded out and excluded. However, what makes sense for cabbage and potatoes also makes sense when searching for simple information, such as addresses and telephone numbers on the Internet. In this form of information dissemination, the focus is on efficiency; creativity would be a waste of time and energy. Web communities bring together people with the same interests, ideas and goals. Thanks to the WWW, they can exchange information and support each other globally. Instead of geographical confinement, there is ideal confinement.
If you don't want to lose sight of the rest of the world, take a look at the general interest media: daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, full programs from radio and television stations and corresponding websites. These media confront us with information and thoughts that we have searched for or found by chance. Our loyalty to these media is also a consequence of our trust in their services: Der Spiegel, which celebrates its sixtieth birthday this week, is a seduction specialist for long reading trips. After trying to follow journalistic fashions for a while, it has returned to its tradition of storytelling. Readers get involved with topics that do not affect them personally in a virulent way. But they know that reading them always holds a surprise or two.
Serendipity defines the possibilities and limits of editorial marketing. Knowing what the audience wants is all well and good. Ideally, this can be used to analyze the past and map the present. However, those who allow market research to dictate the future will miss out on every trend. Media thrive on creativity, which always involves a step into the unknown. Without the courage to take risks, media products remain a copy of everyday life. Because we know something: There is an audience that wants to be surprised.
However, editorial offices are often allotments themselves and often function according to the principle of "birds of a feather flock together". Openness to the unfamiliar or strange is not without its limits, even among journalists. Curiosity can also be more or less general. For editorial offices, this is only productive to a limited extent if it is restricted to new episodes of the same old soap opera.
Editorial teams must therefore be willing to embrace new ideas. Thanks to an editorial culture that promotes and cultivates diversity, openness and respect for the unfamiliar, surprising perspectives can open up. For media that do not operate in niche markets, but are aimed at the mixed user base of a region, diversity is a must. Exotic plants therefore belong in the gardens, and the gardeners have to take a trip here and there.
Josefa Haas is Head of the Media Institute
