'Do what you are good at.' That simple. A group of media researchers got together at the Danish Media Festival on Sunday to project the future of the newspaper and the media - Anker Brink Lund from Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Ida Schultz and Mark Ørsten, both from Roskilde University Centre (RUC). The event was hosted by editor-in-chief at the Danish newspaper of Politiken, Stig Ørskov.
Although the researchers disagreed as to which direction to follow for the major omnibus newspapers, they did agree on one thing: the future media market would be very segmented, so no media could or should be everything to everyone. Internet or not, the researchers didn't cut a clear line. Some newspapers and internet media would choose to cover widely, in particular the free newspapers. Whereas the old newspapers might choose to uphold the traditional publicist tradition - and to segment even further. To become niche publications. Hence the statement cornered by Anker Brink Lund from CBS: 'Do what you are good at.'
As Ida Schultz laid out: the evolution of the media had over the century gone from directly politically influenced, over aimed objectivity, to focused stories. And we, the readers, have evolved from electorate, over participating citizens, to consumers. Therefore the changes into 'news you can use'. But enough about us.
If the media want a future for themselves, according to Mark Ørsten, they should choose the fusion model of mixing the so-called Democratic Model and the Mediterranian Model. The Democratic Model refers to the publicly supported media in the Nordic countries with a - relatively! - low degree of commercialisation. And the Mediterranian Model is characterized by relatively small circulation, but with politicized commentary journalism - as known in France, Spain, and Italy. To me that sounds like a publicist revival mixed with a turn-of-the-prior-century political press. The paradox being that the future is moving backwards. Back to basics.