 The impact of digital disruption on traditional media is well acknowledged, but the devastating knock-on for journalism at a grassroots level is only finally registering on the political and social radar. In barely a decade, more than 100 local and regional newspapers have closed in Australia and hundreds of journalists have been retrenched. The consequence is that we have become a country of untold stories, and the crisis threatens to tip into catastrophe. One hope is that the Federal Government can stem the haemorraghing by adopting the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s recommendations from its Digital Platforms Inquiry. Most of the attention has been on the big media companies’ calls for greater regulation of the tech titans, Facebook and Google, who have raided revenue streams. But one of the most dramatic consequences of media disruption has occurred right around us with little apparent community concern.
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 Power of print: despite media fragmentation, small publishers are buoyant about the future. Big media has defined the public impression about print - closures, sell-outs, layoffs and dwindling profitability. But in the world of small publishers it is actually a far more positive scene. Community newspapers, which comprise the overwhelming number of newspapers across the world, tell a different story to the big media’s narrative of How Digital Killed Print. The small newspaper market faces similar challenges from media fragmentation, but the strong appetite for hyperlocal news means the local paper continues to provide a great sales and marketing environment. Take New Zealand.  The good news: Donald Trump has given publishers, including The New York Times, a renewed sense of purpose. If you are in media and feeling light-headed, take a deep breath - you have been working in the most disrupted of industries. You deserve a beer or something harder. Now sit down. Because I have encouraging news for you - as well as same trends to consider from my recent sabbatical in New York. What you do not want to hear is that the pace of change will continue as it has been. It won’t. It will multiply - that’s according to everyone at the forefront of change. The good news for media is that clear paths have emerged. The fog of uncertainty has lifted around paywalls, on how best to fund journalism and on where Facebook and Google fit into the media equation - well, sort of. Media folk also have a lot to thank Donald J Trump for - because he has re-stoked the fires of quality journalism. In short, for the first time in years, the media has reason to feel optimistic. I spent two weeks in New York visiting established and new media players, as well as attending the International News Media Association (INMA) world congress. During an INMA-run study tour I visited iconic media, including The New York Times (NYT), Dow Jones, Bloomberg and Google. I visited start-ups Playbuzz and established digital companies such as Chartbeat and Nativo. Some of the deepest insights came from talking with media executives. I spent time with delegates from the US, Germany, China, India, Latin America, South Africa, Finland, Norway, Sweden. Gee, even Australians and Kiwis. What were the themes? I shared a bunch in a blog aimed at communications teams and those wanting to craft their own DIY Newsroom™. Here I zone on what is of relevance to the news industry and those keen for solutions. So let’s roll. 5 things that could happen now regulator has rejected Fairfax New Zealand, NZME media merger3/5/2017  Fairfax NZ's Auckland headquarters: regulator's rejection of merger is a watershed moment. Traditional media keeps getting a pounding - and entering the fray at a sensitive time in New Zealand is the Flat Earth Society disguised as the country’s regulator, the Commerce Commission. ComCom has rejected the proposed merger of Fairfax New Zealand and NZME, citing the likelihood of greatly reduced competition in the market. The argument: less outlets, less views, poorer society. It beggars belief, of course. Almost all new digital revenue goes to Facebook and Google - ComCom among the advertisers with the former. Under a merger, the businesses would have been rationalised. Old jobs would have been axed but new jobs would have been created in what represented a chance for big but struggling media there to respawn. What now? Submission to New Zealand Commerce Commission in support of the merger of Fairfax NZ and NZME5/12/2016 EDITORIAL COMMENT Flame Tree Media is more than an interested party in what goes down in the New Zealand media market. One of our key clients is Fairfax NZ and we have also consulted for independent publishers there. We believe the proposed merger between Fairfax NZ and NZME would be a good thing for New Zealand, those businesses, journalism and, most importantly, for Kiwis. We produced this submission for the NZ Commerce Commission, which is considering whether to clear the merger. It is expected to make its final decision by March 15, 2017. Coincidentally the Ides of March. Hmm. 5 things Muhammad Ali personified, New Zealand did - and you can do too - to become a world beater6/6/2016  Muhammad Ali's passing should remind us that not only did he redefine boxing, but he was the consummate innovator - a man who provides lessons to anyone who wants to survive and thrive in a dog-eat-dog world. Ali teaches us that innovation is not about iteration - it's about blazing trails. "I don't have to be what you want me to be, " Ali told reporters after the bout against Sonny Liston in 1964 that launched his career. "I'm free to be what I want." Publishers, who have suffered an unprecedented pummelling in recent years, could do with some of that self-belief. One media organisation that is displaying its own brand of magic is Fairfax Media New Zealand. Like a young Cassius Clay, the Fairfax team is willing to do things its own way. For the past 18 months, Flame Tree Media has helped design and implement the company's signature editorial transformation program News Rewired. In May, Fairfax NZ won the award for corporate innovation at the International News Media Association (INMA) awards in London - along with best in show for Asia/Pacific. In all, Fairfax NZ won four first places - more than any media brand. In the world. So, what are the Kiwis doing that others aren't? Five traits are common to those who become world beaters. |
AuthorStuart Howie is a Canberra-based communications consultant. He has worked with organisations, private and public, in Australia and New Zealand, helping them to discover, shape and tell their stories. He is the author of The DIY Newsroom, which won Social Media Book of the Year at the Australian Business Book Awards. Stuart has worked in media, publishing and communications for more than 30 years as an executive, editor and strategist. 
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Stuart Howie | Canberra's most insightful communications consultant
