Reports of Old Media's Demise May Be Exaggerated

Thursday March 26, 2009

Tough times are nothing new for the news business. Long before the economy tanked, print publishers already knew times had passed them by. Consider their business model: an army of reporters funded by expensive retail advertising read by a rapidly-dwindling base of hard copy subscribers. In recent years, the same content they sold at a premium on paper has also been given away for free online, and pricey classified ads compete head-to-head with sites that let sellers post color pictures and unlimited descriptions for free. Radio and broadcast outlets have had similar struggles with new competitors who offer better audience targeting at much lower cost.

The downturn has certainly accelerated traditional journalism's problems. When newspaper publisher McClatchy announced 1,600 layoffs on March 9, it highlighted troubles on a much grander scale than we saw even six months ago. Consider Twitter's blackly comedic TheMediaisDying, a continuous elegy to journalism that tracks the latest closings, layoffs and firings in the news media. Watch it for a day and you’ll be convinced that soon the only place to find reporters will be in museums (presumably sporting crumpled fedoras adorned with oversized "press" cards).

As professionals at an integrated agency, my co-workers and I have been trying to puzzle out how all this changes communications, brand building and public affairs. Amid the gloom, we see plenty of reason for optimism — and plenty of new strategies.

The shifting balance of expertise

When specialized "beat reporters" get fired or furloughed, those of us with long-standing relationships with journalists bemoan the loss of expertise. When we're pitching stories these days, it pays to assume the reporter on the other end of the phone line is young and green. This means not only more work, but also a greater opportunity to influence the story. Often a short, cogent backgrounder is essential to providing context and showing why a client's product, program or research is newsworthy. This is particularly true in complex industries where debates can progress slowly over decades, as in energy, health care, insurance and pharmaceuticals.

The good news is that industry insiders will continue to want the deep technical analysis and insight that mainstream papers are cutting back on. These specialized audiences will continue to support trade journals and subscription Web sites, so PR pros may find the reporters they’re familiar with forging new careers at these publications.

More fertile ground for creative approaches

Since feature stories take up a lot of newsprint and time, we can expect greater pressure to tell a story quicker, sooner, shorter. This puts a premium on getting to the point — fast — and showing how the story can be told through multiple media that help features make a splash, like photos, comments and online tie-ins. Don't get locked into the mentality of the "press release" (what percentage of news is still pressed, anyway?). An eye-catching photo that shows a concept in action is more likely to make the cut than stiff quotes or lengthy corporate-speak. If that photo drives people to a company's Web site, it might be the best hit of all.

It's also good news for PR that harried reporters have more need than ever for well-packaged stories that quickly answer an editor's "Why is this news?" question. Pitches that are creative, credible and show why an average person would give a hoot will always get traction.

We can almost certainly expect staff-strapped editors to look to wire services for more of their content. This means that a story that catches the eye of an AP reporter or moves on the business wires could get legs fast. Whether or not this is a good thing depends, of course, on whether the headline is "CEO Acclaimed" or "CEO Indicted."

Where tradition survives

Local news is a different game entirely. The Internet just doesn't compete meaningfully with small town newspapers. If you're a brick-and-mortar retailer in Podunk, North Dakota, there are darn few options beyond the local weekly.

In fact, smaller papers aren't doing badly at all: USA Today reports that profit margins of 10 percent aren't uncommon at second-tier newspapers. One survey found that 85 percent of the dailies with circulations over 100,000 have cut newsroom staff in the last three years, while only 52 percent of smaller papers were forced to do so. There is even a tongue-in-cheek site called The Media is Hirin' that catalogues these pockets of opportunity.

There is also a question of audience. I work frequently with state legislators. While many legislative staffers are pretty wired, the lawmakers they work for aren't. They don't blog, Twitter, digg or Plurk. Many of them can't even type. They read newspapers daily and thoroughly. So if f you need to reach these important opinion leaders, you need to deal with Old Media.

Can you sit out the social media revolution?

It seems like an odd question. Who would want to? But many corporations are accustomed to releasing static announcements that have been careful vetted by a phalanx of lawyers. Some, like the pharmaceutical industry, face regulatory scrutiny of every public utterance, but others simply decide that the risks of crossing this frontier of candid, spontaneous communication outweigh the benefits.

Our advice to clients: Sitting on the sidelines isn't an option, because the online conversations already going on affect nearly every brand and organization. The first step in leveraging Web 2.0 is to simply listen to what is already being said about you — and by whom. Not all online conversations are created equal. You can ignore a lone crank posting nonsense from his grandmother's basement, but a blogger with 50,000 regular readers has a bully pulpit to match any business journal's — and a more nimble delivery mechanism.

One Capstrat client recently had the misfortune to tick off a young customer barely out of his teens who was nevertheless a highly influential online voice. Shortly after the problem, a post hit YouTube titled 'F*ck [companyname]'. No newspaper or broadcast outlet would ever have hosted such an offensively phrased message, but what mattered was content and audience. Sure enough, the post drew hundreds of thousands of hits and a growing body of supportive comments in a matter of hours. An online furor like that can easily take center stage on Google and other engines — damaging the brand in ways that take months or even years to overcome. Happily, we were able to help that client engage with the poster and offer to resolve his concerns. His surprise at the company's responsiveness was so great it resulted in a second, highly appreciative post.

New tools, same job

The bottom line is that organizations with a story to tell must be conversant in both Old and New Media. Optimal communication with stakeholders depends on the same basic factors it always has: audience, budget, geography, timing, and the complexity of what you're trying to say. Sometimes, a press release is still the right approach — especially if you happen to know that there is an interested, seasoned beat reporter on the receiving end. Just don't count on it.