Week 6 Blog

The Future of Media

“Email is probably going away.” Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told a conference crowd. “I can't imagine life without it,” she added.

Huffinton Post, Youtube and other online media released the video of Sandberg’s keynote address to Nielsen's Consumer 360 Conference Tuesday, June 15, in which she cited that only 11% of teens use email daily. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/17/facebook-coo-email-is-pro_n_615816.html)

Sandberg’s witty argumentation initiated several waves of laughter and helped the audience see the future when social networking would usurp email. “E-mail’s reign is over. Social networking will be the new king.” The presentation reminded me of previous experience of finding the central compelling character in my story on the Facebook.

Though whether the prediction will become true in the near future is up in the air, Sandberg is right in saying that “if you want to know what people like us will do tomorrow, you look at what teenagers are doing today." This is big news for businesses and online advertisers because social networks such as Facebook may connect consumers and advertisers more easily and directly than email. It broadened the thinking of entrepreneurs and urged journalists to get ready in advance for media evolvement-young people’s news consumption pattern shapes the future of media.

Look around. We can easily see that young people are significantly different from older generations in media consumption. Teenagers are more connected, savvier to new and high technologies, and more likely to take the advantage of smartphones, laptops and other devices for information gathering and exchange.

When email still plays an important role in modern communication, Sandberg’s idea is shocking and forces me to think about the future of media. With technology advancing quickly in communication, we must begin to consider how to engage our audience in active conversation and disseminate information efficiently. It poses challenges to traditional media, while provides opportunities for multiple media storytelling.

The news sets an urgent need for the development and utilization of convergence, in which stories and information reach the consumers in different communication styles. When traditional media are declining, many journalists have become aware that interaction with viewers via the Web or social networking is taking a growing portion of media market. Peaple are now spending a fair amount of time online for high interest contents, supplementary information and news updating. Modern journalism must pick up the pace to embrace the trend.

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How will TV remain as the most prevalent media after five decades? Wenger and Potter, authors of Advancing the Story-Broadcast journalism in a multimedia world may have presented a good answer. Traditional broadcast journalism must offer its audience with unique contents and help them relate to the story through interactive and multiple platforms to retain controlling position in face of overwhelming competition with new media. Furthermore, broadcasting has to develop its own new platforms to attract the attention of advertisers, whose participation is critical for the survival of media.

To allow multiple uses of traditional broadcasting, journalists should transform to continuous news producing on the Web and social networking. The change requires reporters to post information quickly, produce impressive online stories with short video clips and participate actively in the community affairs by blogging or staying on the Bulletin Board System (BBS). Modern journalism is a team work, between reporters, the public and the technical staff who excel at Web skills.

Research for Story Ideas

“Many story ideas will come to you. You may find interesting stories even when you are hanging out with friends in a bar.” That was what Professor John Schneller said in a training session for new students to Missouri School of Journalism. For all the time, our instructors in reporting classes have been teaching how to discover great stories. After half a year’s practice, I find there are multiple sources that may enlighten reporters. Moreover, good story ideas should withstand extensive research.

I parked on the top of the hill. There were a group of people in the berry fields. Among them were a reporter from the Missourian and a videophotographer from the university’s TV station. The next morning after my package was released, the Missourian took a whole page to report the same training session with a number of nice pictures. Actually I got my original idea from the Missourian’s previous story about another event on that farm. That’s why I believe the most direct sources are local newspapers where journalists may easily get knowledge about the community, although simply copying from local newspaper makes no sense to TV news production. Last Sunday I was reading the Missourian when an article about the Summer Celebration of a local farm caught my attention. At the end, the reporter told readers that the farm looked for more funds to get open to the general public. There were no further details so I turned to the Web for more details.

After surfing the net for half an hour, I understood that the farm was non-profitable organization and focused on research and educational program. It does not host training programs very often and the next one would be two days later. Excited with the findings, I got in touch with the institute and consulted with the staff about the best time to shoot impressive videos.

Many local newspapers, like the Missourian, feature one section of readers’ letters and opinions. Journalists may find interesting stories. People who express their own views on the newspapers may also be willing to address certain issues, which can be used as sources for broadcast stories.

The second kind of possible sources is national newscasts. Good journalists always keep an eye on what happens nation wide, and think about the possibilities to do stories from local angles. However, my recent experience caught me on guard of the difference among regions, which means a good story in New York City may not be doable in Columbia, Missouri.

Last week, I found an interesting article in The USA Today. It addressed the increasing cost of small toy stores that caused by lead-paint inspection. I thought I might do a story from the local angle and started my research. I reached out to local stores that might be affected and found the idea was not applicable to Columbia. First, there are few local toy stores here in Columbia, which means the story would be not relevant to many people. Big toy companies such as Target or Walmart do not suffer from the issue. Stores selling bicycles or other products related to paint inspection did not want to comment on this issue. My conclusion was: good story ideas had to withstand extensive research.

My last secret, stories may come with all kinds of newsletters. The subscriptions of City Source coming with my utility bills have saved me many times from running out of story ideas. This morning, I got the idea of doing a story about the program of Tree Power from a newsletter that I almost threw into the trash can. The contents of the community’s newsletters are often different from local newspapers. I have developed a habit of read through the Quarterly Report of Columbia Public Schools, which is found every couple of months in my mailbox. I get electronic newsletters from a number of organizations or businesses. One interesting thing journalists should know is, most of us would spend hours searching for stories, while simply ignore helpful information which is always around us.