[LINK] Ffx: Still no bus model for quality jnalism

[Roger Clarke]

[Forget the dopey headline.  This is a statement by a media executive 
that shows that the penny is all-too-slowly dropping in Boardrooms, 
and not even Rupert Murdoch can play Canute and hold back the new 
realities.

>  ... [There is] a denialist attitude to major behavioural and 
>consumption change for news and information in all media. This is 
>consumer driven and technology enabled ...

>  ... as a result of digital technology many of the old paradigms and 
>power constructs are breaking down or are already broken. The 
>internet has no respect for the establishment and is a furiously 
>strong levelling agent. New models in all things are becoming 
>commonplace

>  ... a well developed sustainable model for commercial delivery of 
>serious independent journalism, as we have known it, is yet to 
>emerge in the digital sphere ...


[Aside:  This mixed metaphor doesn't help much:
>In the interim media companies must extract every ounce of value 
>from fine print products, but the writing is on the wall.
[I'm too lazy to express 'Mene, mene, teqel, u-farsin' in binary.]


Kim Williams calls News Corp leaks a festival of vengeance
Kim Williams
Fairfax
August 21, 2014
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/kim-williams-calls-news-corp-leaks-a-festival-of-vengeance-20140821-106r64.html

During my time at News Corporation there were frequent frustrating 
leaks, much like the one this week, a comprehensive set of numbers on 
the company's Australian enterprises.

The leak, published in Crikey, was different only in that the 
material contained substantial unfiltered data which showed a whole 
picture rather than the selective briefing process of my day. I 
haven't reviewed the numbers since I left News in August 2013, but I 
imagine they reveal much which has been suspected as to trends in the 
media.  

Inevitably the commentary about the data threw brickbats about my 
period as chief executive running the Australian company. I described 
the commentary from News Corporation as a festival of vengeance. 
However, I do not resile from any of the reforms I initiated (many of 
which have been abandoned or reversed). Those reforms followed 
exhaustive analysis and detailed discussion. The decisions were also 
transparent to the chain of command. I shan't go on as it would sound 
defensive, which I don't need to be.

The commentary misses the point. Also sadly at its core, it repeats a 
denialist attitude to major behavioural and consumption change for 
news and information in all media. This is consumer driven and 
technology enabled. I find this denialism as perplexing now as I did 
when I was in that chief executive seat. 

In my forthcoming book, Rules of Engagement, I emphasise that as a 
result of digital technology many of the old paradigms and power 
constructs are breaking down or are already broken. The internet has 
no respect for the establishment and is a furiously strong levelling 
agent. New models in all things are becoming commonplace.

This is something of utmost relevance to all media companies and 
saying that it isn't so will not change it. Print news media is, over 
the medium term, profoundly challenged economically. The numbers will 
reach a point where the high fixed costs simply make no sense and are 
not sustainable. Rhetoric won't win the day. I believe that a crunch 
point may be closer than many think - certainly the horizon in years 
is probably a single digit number.

In a digital sphere nothing and no one is safe. Merit, ingenuity, 
speed, flexibility and performance increasingly now rule the day in 
the media. I think this is on one hand, a good thing because it is 
giving unparalleled empowerment to invention and creativity, with the 
opportunity of entirely new ways of working and connecting. On the 
other hand a well developed sustainable model for commercial delivery 
of serious independent journalism, as we have known it, is yet to 
emerge in the digital sphere. It is important that model emerges as a 
result of extensive consumer trials and from endless communication 
between consumers and working professional, because the health of our 
democracy is so dependent on a strong and independent media. I 
believe there are encouraging signs in many arenas and I am an 
optimist as to the capacity for creative energetic minds to find and 
deliver solutions. In a similar way our citizens are not fools and 
understand the quality of what you receive is a direct product of 
that for which they pay. 

In the interim media companies must extract every ounce of value from 
fine print products, but the writing is on the wall. The advertising 
premiums once enjoyed, the boost to circulation from "supported 
pricing" for huge volumes of massively discounted copies, and the 
aura of print having more authority than digital no longer pertains. 
 Consumers have in the main moved into a digital sphere and they are 
dictating the "rules of engagement". Some of the commentary from News 
Corp lacks a respect for the severity and sheer hurricane-like force 
of the changes reflected from that power transfer from media owners 
to media consumers.

One thing is abundantly clear, we are now living through the largest 
single transfer of power in human history, from producers to 
consumers. The significance of that power shift is enormous. How 
Australia responds will define our modern nation - the challenge of 
innovation is at the core. The solutions rest in journalism adapting 
to the application of digital technology and engaging quite 
differently with their consumers and what they want.

As to how the new environment and the commercial models that fund it 
unfurls none of us really yet know. The journey is the most exciting 
and confronting in our adult lives - as consumers or as media 
professionals. It really does offer the possibility of merit finally 
winning through if we live true to the possibilities afforded in the 
digitally empowered era.

While some of these forces can have profoundly destructive elements 
in some aspects of traditional news media; others are learning and 
adapting what's already happening  in telecommunications, 
entertainment, and some other media companies. The forces are now 
impacting other industries such as education, finance and retailing 
dramatically. The impact on politics is every bit as challenging. 
Fresh thinking and creative ingenuity can win through because the 
cost of entry is now lower than at any time before, so the cost of 
failure has never been lower. This economic reality allows for new 
models, possibilities and expectations to be explored and tested. 
Never has content and commercial creativity been so unencumbered - we 
all need to reflect long and hard on the implications of this new 
operating landscape.

This is the largest citizen empowerment change seen in history, and 
it has happened almost entirely from technology.  The impact on 
consumer behaviour and, more importantly, on expectation has been 
overwhelming - a true game changer. We live in different times and I 
for one am very tired of hearing examples and role models which are 
historically inappropriate, holding to a past with little to offer 
the adaptive approaches required today.


Kim Williams, former chief executive of News Corp, is the author of 
Rules of Engagement (MUP), published next week.


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 6288 6916                        http://about.me/roger.clarke
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University