To the point: credibility
On page 38 this week, instead of one top and one flop news story of the week, you will find two tops of the week. Not that we're running out of bad news. What's happening in the media industry at the moment - whether in Switzerland or abroad - would allow entire issues to be filled with bad news.
On page 38 this week, instead of one top and one flop news story of the week, you will find two tops of the week. Not that we're running out of bad news. What is currently happening in the media industry - whether in Switzerland or abroad - would allow us to fill entire issues with bad news. Rather, the two positive reports are intended to send a very small signal. A very little optimism in a thoroughly pessimistic time.
People are lamenting all over the place. The end of the printed newspaper is being prayerfully conjured up. Structural adjustment, market shakeout, cost reduction are becoming the daily mantra of all too many exponents of the media industry. Experts and those who think they are experts give unsolicited advice. Is it advice for survival, for euthanasia, or is it just self-profiling? Let's leave the answer open.
Gavin O'Reilly, president of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), said last week at the "The Power of the Printed Word" conference in Barcelona: "That all this doom-mongering goes unchallenged is, to me, the most bizarre incident of willful self-mutilation in the entire history of the industry." And further: "Many don't even think about what they're talking about, but simply join the chorus of those who claim that the future is Internet, Internet, Internet, and all but rule out everything else."
It may be that these are just presidential words at an industry event. Words that simply sound good. Skeptics would agree. I don't believe it, because after all, O'Reilly is not only president of WAN, he's also chairman of the board of the Irish media group Independent News and Media. So he's neither a theorist nor a fantasist. He knows what he's talking about. Another quote shows that: "This is not to detract from the serious, indeed very serious, situation, but the fact remains that companies in the other major industries are just as affected as the big media houses."
But if media managers no longer believe in their industry and cast doubt on the role of the media, then things will get fizzling. Allow me to get very personal here. When many - fortunately not all - publishers, radio and TV broadcasters no longer believe in the power of advertising, then it becomes dangerous. How are these industry exponents going to credibly convince their customers that classic advertising works if they themselves do the opposite? They invest in B2B portals, address their customers directly or do nothing at all. At the same time, they complain that their customers don't use traditional advertising or use it less. Where is the credibility in that?
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
People are lamenting all over the place. The end of the printed newspaper is being prayerfully conjured up. Structural adjustment, market shakeout, cost reduction are becoming the daily mantra of all too many exponents of the media industry. Experts and those who think they are experts give unsolicited advice. Is it advice for survival, for euthanasia, or is it just self-profiling? Let's leave the answer open.
Gavin O'Reilly, president of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), said last week at the "The Power of the Printed Word" conference in Barcelona: "That all this doom-mongering goes unchallenged is, to me, the most bizarre incident of willful self-mutilation in the entire history of the industry." And further: "Many don't even think about what they're talking about, but simply join the chorus of those who claim that the future is Internet, Internet, Internet, and all but rule out everything else."
It may be that these are just presidential words at an industry event. Words that simply sound good. Skeptics would agree. I don't believe it, because after all, O'Reilly is not only president of WAN, he's also chairman of the board of the Irish media group Independent News and Media. So he's neither a theorist nor a fantasist. He knows what he's talking about. Another quote shows that: "This is not to detract from the serious, indeed very serious, situation, but the fact remains that companies in the other major industries are just as affected as the big media houses."
But if media managers no longer believe in their industry and cast doubt on the role of the media, then things will get fizzling. Allow me to get very personal here. When many - fortunately not all - publishers, radio and TV broadcasters no longer believe in the power of advertising, then it becomes dangerous. How are these industry exponents going to credibly convince their customers that classic advertising works if they themselves do the opposite? They invest in B2B portals, address their customers directly or do nothing at all. At the same time, they complain that their customers don't use traditional advertising or use it less. Where is the credibility in that?
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
