Media Melt Down

The media are in a process of winding up businesses. In particular the print media. And it's a slow and painful process. A bit like pulling a tooth. This story has been told over and over again. But here comes a guy with the solution! Or rather, four of them in one go: Clement Kjersgaard shoots from the hip and delivers in a feature article in the newspaper of Politiken. Four major problems - four major solutions. How about that? Who is this guy, anyway? He's a political science buff with political web and print magazines and several Danish Broadcasting Corporation/DR2 tv talk shows to his credit. So let's hear him out.

The four debated events in the feature article are the fall of major American quality newspapers, the not fully integrated co-operation between the Danish newspapers of Jyllands-Posten and Politiken, the dropping of costly (quality) drama series on major tv stations, and the hysteria of the media in hunting down financial gamblers - and other fast paced scandal stories. One of Mr. Kjersgaard's many argued points is that the newspapers lose out to television, television loses to the internet, and the internet has lost to itself. Because the users of either won't pay with anything other than a short time - within the concentration span of about one minute.

So what are the recommendations of this bold critic?

• True Innovation. Not just re-packaging. To rethink form, contents, distribution, and financing.
• Think Money. Contents and money hand in hand. Avoid media designed by advertising experts.
• Forget About Segments. It's so nineties. Advertising markets fail. And it hinders true innovation.
• Get smarter. The media already know about communicating. The problem area is knowledge.

I'm so happy to read three of the above four solutions. In particular the very last one. A real sigh of relief. But I won't disappoint my readership. I do have a paradox for you: Isn't it the very 'Think Money' aspect of running the media businesses that has taken us to this point where there is no room for knowledge? Users/readers/viewers have no time. Knowledge takes time. Time is money. On top of that we have also conditioned users/readers/viewers to free of charge information - a point Mr. Kjersgaard makes himself. Like Pavlovian dogs. The paradoxical question is how we condition them right back to wanting to be smarter?

For further information, see:
http://politiken.dk/debat/kroniker/article615341.ece