Media Week imagines the world in 2014

For one analyst, e-readers are clearly the best bet for newspapers, since they most closely resemble the print product and can be used virtually anywhere. Sony's announcement yesterday of its new Reader Daily Edition, which is better designed for e-papers than previous Readers, marks a new addition to an increasingly crowded field. It is possible that with more competition and improved technology the cost for consumers for e-readers will become much less prohibitive in the next five years.

The future will see newspapers relying on a whole range of revenue sources, from mobile to e-readers to memberships, predicts Tim Brooks, managing director of Guardian News & Media. Many media companies are already doing so, or at least paving the way by expanding digital distribution, notably USA Today. Financing is probably the biggest issue the industry faces right now, and hopefully something that can be resolved by 2014.

The main theme for predictions on media in other sectors, with implications for the news industry, is the integration of technology, both in the sense of many types of technology being used together and its pervasiveness in the lives of consumers. For example, some foresee the Internet being the common link among all technologies, becoming more like a utility like water or electricity than a luxury. This could have an impact on the already frenetic 24-hour news cycle, if everyone could receive constant updates from anywhere in the world.

Others imagine that in fives years social media like Facebook and Twitter will be integrated into all our technology activity, from watching TV to accessing Internet on smartphones. The Huffington Post jumps ahead of this curve with the roll out last week of its Social News service linked to Facebook. Will other news organizations follow?

Another prediction in the realm of social networking is the proliferation of geotagging. Twitter is all over that, having recently announced plans to include that data is users' tweets if they so choose. Geotagging has benefits for journalists, but also some potential dangers.

Two media prophecies should leave consumers a bit wary. The first, from Associated Northcliffe Digital Chief Executive Richard Titus, is that the line between advertising and editorial will blur to such an extent that there will be no difference between the two. Although Titus does not elaborate on what exactly that means or how it will come about, from a journalistic perspective it would be a disquieting development. Several publications have recently come under fire for allowing advertorial content to appear on the front page, while the US Federal Trade Commission has said it wants bloggers to disclose when they are paid by a company to write an article or review.

And the scariest idea of them all: interactive billboards that recognize your face to personalize advertising. That's just a bit too much like Big Brother surveillance meets Brave New World consumerism.

Source: Media Week