Local Media Issues to Watch in 2008

Instead of a list of predictions for 2008, I thought it would be better to point out some trends/issues that will come to the forefront over the next 12 months. 

ISSUE #1     Local Media Websites: revenue UP….share DOWN

Alan Mutter from Reflections of a Newsosaur dissects the latest Borrell report on local online revenue shares; research that seems to have gone un-noticed by mainstream local media. SEE GRAPH ABOVE. For the first time ever, pure-play media companies (Google, Weather.com, etc,) took more money out of the local marketplace…..than incumbent, local media players (Broadcast and Print). Alarm bells should be going off with every local media publisher in the country. Here’s a quick look at Alan’s piece. Click here to read Alan’s full blog report.

If newspapers (and others) want a brighter future than appears to be in prospect, they need to begin leveraging their rich reservoirs of unique local content to create inexpensive-to-produce sites that can serve readers, non-readers and advertisers alike.

They also need to empower the smartest net-savvy people they can find to create, market and sell modern Internet and mobile products that will enable them to compete with a straight face with the interlopers who, at the moment, are beating them rather soundly at their own game

ISSUE #2     Journalism students ill-equipped for Web world ? 

Steve Boriss  from ‘The Future of News’ voices his dismay with the current crop of graduates that Journalism schools are churning out. Are they ready for an online future, or were they taught out of date theory and practices, by old school professors? Here’s a peek:

Should those seeking careers in news go to journalism school? Can today’s j-schools – with faculties that consist almost entirely of Old Media experts and practitioners, courses about conventional media tactics, and premises built upon now-failing models of objectivity and verification – prepare students for the new world of New Media? Of course not. Here’s a list of courses that j-schools should be teaching.

Click here to read full article from Steve.