Friday, July 29, 2005
Looking through my "archive" of old Media Guardian and Independent Media supplements raises a number of questions.
Firstly, the obvious taxonomical doubts – how should this material be classified and filed for future reference. What happens if one piece falls into two categories?
But beyond that it is interesting to get a slightly historical perspective on the media. For example, in 1999 and 2000 there was a big slew of material about newspapers and the internet: the threats, the challanges, the opportunities. Among the pontificators was Rupert Murdoch. This is notable because in the Nov 29 1999 edition of the Guardian's media section (not yet MediaGuardian – that didn't happen until Jan 10 2000) Murdoch makes it clear that he is aware of the threats and opportunities offered by the internet, so his more recent "conversion" (in 2005; date to follow) was not a Damascene conversion.
Taking the more general debate around newspapers and the internet there is a clear trend of thought which proposes that newspapers/local sites have to become much more community-oriented and even more "local". In 2005 this is coming to fruition on search sites (see FT July 27 2005 page 15) and in the BBC's proposals for ultra-local broadcast sites. It also raises a few further questions because it it tempting to think that this is following the stereotypical magazine focus of:
a) a very well defined readership
b) a fostering of "community"
Beyond that, it raises the question of whether magazines have really followed that pattern and how successful they have been in doing so.
Then, there are signs of further collision between magazine and newspaper formats – the proposed new newspaper for gamblers, for example.
There will be more!
Firstly, the obvious taxonomical doubts – how should this material be classified and filed for future reference. What happens if one piece falls into two categories?
But beyond that it is interesting to get a slightly historical perspective on the media. For example, in 1999 and 2000 there was a big slew of material about newspapers and the internet: the threats, the challanges, the opportunities. Among the pontificators was Rupert Murdoch. This is notable because in the Nov 29 1999 edition of the Guardian's media section (not yet MediaGuardian – that didn't happen until Jan 10 2000) Murdoch makes it clear that he is aware of the threats and opportunities offered by the internet, so his more recent "conversion" (in 2005; date to follow) was not a Damascene conversion.
Taking the more general debate around newspapers and the internet there is a clear trend of thought which proposes that newspapers/local sites have to become much more community-oriented and even more "local". In 2005 this is coming to fruition on search sites (see FT July 27 2005 page 15) and in the BBC's proposals for ultra-local broadcast sites. It also raises a few further questions because it it tempting to think that this is following the stereotypical magazine focus of:
a) a very well defined readership
b) a fostering of "community"
Beyond that, it raises the question of whether magazines have really followed that pattern and how successful they have been in doing so.
Then, there are signs of further collision between magazine and newspaper formats – the proposed new newspaper for gamblers, for example.
There will be more!
Post a Comment