Jobs losses
from the news industry big players like Fairfax and News Limited have created a
mood of uncertainty in the media profession. As a journalism student, it’s a
dispiriting and daunting prospect to be jobless upon graduation which has
reinforced my desire to pursue a career path away from journalism.
According
to industry insiders, print media’s ‘rivers of gold’ are evaporating due to
growth in online news. Put simply – people aren’t reading newspapers anymore. While
you’d think this conversion to online news would be resulting in increased
profits, it isn’t. According to the PEW’s Research Centre’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, for every $1 gained in digital revenue, $7 is
lost in print media revenue.
In a recent
lecture, John Grey (a victim of the media purge himself) spoke of how news
organisations are centralising and cutting staff to balance their budgets. To
me this model didn’t make sense – and here’s why.
According
to Grey, only 6 people are now left to run the Courier Mail’s website – down
from 36. This simply doesn’t make sense; cutting staff from what has to one day
become the organisation’s biggest revenue generator.
My view is
that if you want to make money, then you have to spend money by investing in
your product. Centralising and cutting down editorial staff will undoubtedly
lead to news of less quality meaning that less people will buy, let alone read
an organisation’s news.
http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/search_new_business_model
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