Re-inventing TheTraditional Media

There is no doubt that there is a media crisis across Canada as there is in other countries. Because of the meltdown in the economy, the life blood of the media, advertising, has decreased as companies cannot afford to spend the money on media buys. Ironically, one would have thought that companies would spend more to encourage people to purchase but that is not happening.

There are also severe problems with increased costs to run a newspaper or a television station and there is no doubt that the borrowings of the past are coming back to hurt the parent companies of the various media outlets.

Look at the transformation that will take place soon in Detroit with respect to their two newspapers effectively going online. It looks like we are going to lose EH-Channel and now CBC Windsor is at risk. How about these headlines in the Star on Saturday which shows that even the biggest newspaper in town could be in serious trouble because of its financial difficulties in their empire:

• Canwest wins debt-talks reprieve of two weeks
  
  Canwest Global Communications Corp. secured a two-week reprieve late Friday to continue negotiating the terms governing its debt covenants.
  
  The Winnipeg-based publisher and broadcaster said in a news release that it will continue discussions with its senior lenders to extend a $112-million line of credit beyond March 11.
  


• CTVglobemedia takes $1.7-billion write-down on TV properties
  
  Dire economic conditions will plunge the over-the-air television operations of CTV into a forecasted loss approaching $100 million in 2009, according to documents released by the broadcaster Friday

What this means clearly is that the Internet is transforming the way that the public gets information. Now perhaps you will understand, dear reader, why I talked about the need for an online newspaper or now, an online television station. The costs of doing so are so much less than running a traditional media outlet.

As an example, I need no newsprint and no ink for you to read this BLOG and the cost of distributing it to you is a fraction of what it is if done the traditional way by having it delivered to your doorstep. As for video, I would not need an expensive television studio or TV tower to be able to show you a video news story.

You would be surprised about the number of contacts I have had from people when I discussed this idea sometime ago. Some were people who were actually interested in investing, some who wanted to know what the costs were and now there are some media people who are concerned about their jobs and looking for alternatives.

I am investigating the matter, without a consultant so far, Canadian or foreign, to see if it is financially viable. It might be interesting to be an online media mogul as a new career. If the Kentucky Colonel could do something completely different at his age and be successful, maybe I can too.

The people at the Star and its parent are obviously aware of the changes in the industry. To me, when the Star completely revamped its website, it was recognition that their business model had to change or else. While the Star Forum may be interesting as a sounding board for what the Community thinks instantaneously on an issue, its real significance is moving readership to the online edition of the Star and more importantly connecting with their subscribers to try and keep them.

Think I’m fooling about this? Take a look at the Don McArthur A3 Column in Saturday’s Star.

• “Scores of dumbfounded and outraged Windsorites began sounding off — for free — minutes after a story about this crackpot proposal, which is being championed by Lewenza, was posted on The Star’s website.”

Based on this almost instantaneous negative reaction online, McArthur is able to say to the readers on Saturday:

• “Someone should tell Lewenza, chairman of the Windsor Utilities Commission, that you don’t actually need to hire a consultant to consult the public.
  
  All you have to do is listen to your constituents instead of dismissing them as naysayers or irrelevant bloggers. All you have to do is open your ears and the doors of meeting rooms that are all too often closed for suspect reasons.
  
  The reality is that Lewenza and the rest of the well-compensated council puppets on the commission don’t really care what you think. They just want you to think that they do.
  
  You’re not a person so much as a revenue source they can bleed dry with rate hikes and surcharges that double as hidden taxes, allowing councillors to make bogus claims about fiscal prudence.”

Being nice to Bloggers is almost a sin in this City. That took some bravery considering what Junior had to say about Bloggers only a few days before. Moreover, the Star has given a lot more coverage to the “naysayers” from WeACT as well as reflecting the Voice of the general population. Want to know about them at any hour of the day or night...they are as close as their website.

It is even worse than this as far as City Hall goes. We have seen such negative columns and Editorials before in the Star. These are usually attacks in general without naming names although it is very clear that the target is our Mayor. Not in this McArthur column. There is only one person who is a full-time politician and who runs the City. It took about two thirds of the column to generalize but in the end, the comment was made:

• “They were angry because officials, including Mayor Eddie Francis, knew for years a steep increase was coming, but kept it quiet and kept putting it off until shortly after the 2006 election.
  
  They were angry because they paid $156,000 for a “whitewash audit” that couldn’t tell them what they wanted to know because auditors weren’t empowered to ask the right questions.
  
  And they remember that dark night for democracy when Francis — eliciting cries of “shame” in a packed council chambers — hid behind procedural bylaws to silence and sideline residents who just wanted the chance to voice their legitimate concerns.”

This is nothing more than a reflection that the Star has recognized within its news pages at least that there is a very strong opposition to the way that our Mayor is managing this City. This negative attitude comes through again via the forums in virtually every story involving the Mayor. Instant polling at no cost to the Star.

If the Star intends to be relevant in this community, especially if the other media are suffering as it is as well, it needs to take into consideration the views of the citizens. While the Star has not yet had the guts to drop the Mayor the way they did Mike Hurst, there is no doubt that it is coming. It takes time. The online comments help.

I found that Don’s use of the term “whitewash audit” was very interesting because that is a term that Bloggers, not the mainstream media, have been using ever since the WUC audit was announced.

The world is changing rapidly and the media is not immune as we can see. I had suggested a very long time ago in an article that the media take a look at becoming Virtual Internet Service Providers as a way of increasing revenue but more importantly keeping subscribers. I have not looked into this recently to see if it is viable in the broadband world but it is something that I intend to do if I intend to become an online media mogul.

In the meantime, just recognize that the traditional media are looking for new revenue sources and a lot of what you see in the press is nothing more than a power-play to get more money out of you and me via the cable and satellite companies. Get the public outraged, get the politicians on side and force the CRTC to change its position.

We “lonely” Bloggers have become a lot more powerful than even we understood. I believe that the Star may finally have understood that. Don McArthur certainly has.