The end of the free?

“We are in the midst of an epochal debate over the value of content and … for many the current model is malfunctioning … The inchoate days of the internet will soon be over”, claimed Rupert Murdoch last month.
The NewsCorp chairman announced plans to charge for content on most of his internet sites and questioned the rationale of the gift culture of the internet by calling it a “flawed” business model,
This to my mind, represents the unease with which that the old guard of media tycoons face the open, collaborative culture of the internet.

Frau Meigs(2007) describes two alternative business cultures that have emerged on the web: the information provider model (Microsoft, Intel, Apple, etc) and the open economy characterized by collaboration, cooperation and sharing.
The collaborative model of content production has posed a threat to the traditional media business model of mass produced and protected content suited for the needs of mass audiences. The fact that, on the internet, information can be transferred, modified and downloaded poses a risk to traditional revenue streams for these media companies who, for decades, thrived through controlling releases and distribution channels. The initial reaction of the industry was to impose heavy penalties through strict copyright laws and penalties.
While the rights of the content producers and their due rewards must be recognized, with the sharing culture of the internet, many content producers have started evolving their business models creating communities around their brands. For example, band Radiohead released their newest album free for download in order to circumvent illegal downloads. In the process, they generated publicity for their album, recovered their costs through concerts, merchandise, and most importantly secured an increased loyalty from their fans. Asserting only their moral rights through the creative commons license, this has created pattern of “dot-communism” ( Wired Magazine, 2009) among other artists who have adopted this strategy.

So, will the next new economy, the one arising from the ashes of this latest meltdown, favour the shared notion of content production?

There have been numerous online content producers that have successfully able to monetize their products. Gawker (the online publishing aggregator) and Spotify ( a music sharing website) are some. Apart from this, traditional newspapers, like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have developed a business model where they give a part of their content out for free but require users to sign up and pay for premium services and have developed a sizeable subscriber base.
Striking the balance between free content that is popular with audiences and maintaining a profitable media business has been one of the biggest challenges that the media industries have had to face in decades.
However, transnational media corporations like Viacom, Universal, Newscorp have been around far too long to adopt this approach quickly. Some have sought to balkanize the internet through the acquisition of insurgents to reestablish the status quo through new media. We are still to witness to a large scale shift of a traditional media company's successful adoption of the open economy of the internet.
Murdoch's recent statement shows an unwillingness to shift. Although, with the evolving expectation of audiences and the pattern of convergence in media industries, the time will soon come where he needs to keep up or be left behind.

The Queen Tweets!

Queen Elizabeth at the ripe age of 82 has decided to catch up on web technology to relate young citizens and build a new audience for the Royal's activities.
However, so far, there does exist a page created for her updates, but a trip up there will show no activity- yet.

Not bad for the old Queen. She also has a dedicated YouTube channel. She also reportedly uses a Blackberry and is a big fan of her iPod!

Its a new wave of change to see monarchs participate in these online participatory platforms like Twitter and YouTube. It helps bridge the gap between the monarchy and general public. But how will the world react to updates on the Queens' life? The queen always held a position of awe and maintained a distance from the watching public. What will happen when this distance is reduced? Wait and watch!
Meanwhile, welcome Queen Elizabeth to Twitter!

For comic relief!

Reporting the crash of '08

Today I attended a talk at the LSE titled "Why did nobody see it coming? Reporting the Global Crash of ‘08"
organized by the Media think tank at the LSE.

The talk brought together professionals who all were supposed to have a stake in reporting the crash of the economy- Evan Davis of the BBC; Alex Brummer of the Daily Mail, Vince Cable MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor and Gillian Tett, Assistant Editor, The Financial Times; and Professor Williem Butler of the LSE as key pannelists.

They all shared one common idea-that the media had no stake crash and completely didn't see it coming. Common logic would urge one to question how it is that the media through all its vast networks and expertise could not predict that the crash was coming?!
The discussion however led to a convincing enough debate to side with the view that the media really did NOT see it coming. Reasons cited were that the financial PR machinery were so well armed that they did not allow rumours like this to float. The gentleman from the Daily Mail claimed that dissenting voices were not really heard and were burried on the last pages of the papers. The FT speaker claimed that journalists generally tend to mirror society and this resulted in social silence about the issue. Another claimed that the dangers of increasingly complex financial products created specialists in one area that were unable to comprehend. In this economy of specialists, there was no one who could really stand back and see that this was what was going to happen.

All very plausible arguments, but when you sit back from the discussions, you have to wonder, how is it that nobody saw it coming? There must be a lesson to be learnt from this. A more questioning media system perhaps that asks more incisive questions? More plurality of viewpoints represented?
Valid questions, difficult to implement..

Welcome!

Welcome to this space!
My aim is to make this a space for reflection, critique and discussion about media events accross the world today. The media truly the power to transform lives and shape opinions accross the world. This blog serves to capture cases and reflect on trends of media's influence on people in all parts of the world.