Roy Greenslade speech pushes for more multi-platform practices
Posted by Diana Epstein on March 30, 2006 at 3:55 PM
In a speech by media commentator and former editor of The Daily Mirror Roy Greenslade at The Newspaper Society's CEP 2006, he outlined his beliefs of how newspapers should adapt to the media revolution that is putting print in jeopardy.
"None of us can deny that the only game in town now is multi-platform journalism combined with multi-platform advertising," he said.
Newspapers must join the multi-platform world:
Greenslade said the industry should use the newspaper brand as an umbrella for its multi-platform approach and that resources must be allocated sensibly in this multi-platform environment. He also said the industry needs to begin training journalists on these different platforms.
“That means devoting resources to websites, innovating with podcasting, targeting mobile phone alerts, branching out into digital TV, editing material for personal video recorders and enthusing over how to utilise e-newspapers, the inkless paper reader that doesn't require newsprint.”
The threat of BBC:
Greenslade calls BBC’s impact on regional and local newspapers “frightening” and a “major concern” as it increases its online capabilities and spending on journalism.
Greenslade believes that BBC’s department of over 800 internet journalists means the broadcaster “is gradually in the process of creating electronic newspapers, offering free advertising to customers who normally use our newspapers.”
The real fear lies in the “profitability and viability of the industry because [BBC is] running free entertainment information,” said Greenslade.
He said that newspaper owners had themselves to blame for not "locking out the BBC earlier…if owners had sacrificed some of their profits by innovating with screen-based products linked to their newspaper brands some years ago."
Although he blames newspaper owners, he said it is not too late to challenge BBC in the digital arena.
Some other important points from the speech:
Newspapers must join the multi-platform world:
Greenslade said the industry should use the newspaper brand as an umbrella for its multi-platform approach and that resources must be allocated sensibly in this multi-platform environment. He also said the industry needs to begin training journalists on these different platforms.
“That means devoting resources to websites, innovating with podcasting, targeting mobile phone alerts, branching out into digital TV, editing material for personal video recorders and enthusing over how to utilise e-newspapers, the inkless paper reader that doesn't require newsprint.”
The threat of BBC:
Greenslade calls BBC’s impact on regional and local newspapers “frightening” and a “major concern” as it increases its online capabilities and spending on journalism.
Greenslade believes that BBC’s department of over 800 internet journalists means the broadcaster “is gradually in the process of creating electronic newspapers, offering free advertising to customers who normally use our newspapers.”
The real fear lies in the “profitability and viability of the industry because [BBC is] running free entertainment information,” said Greenslade.
He said that newspaper owners had themselves to blame for not "locking out the BBC earlier…if owners had sacrificed some of their profits by innovating with screen-based products linked to their newspaper brands some years ago."
Although he blames newspaper owners, he said it is not too late to challenge BBC in the digital arena.
Some other important points from the speech:
- Newspapers should embrace the internet
- Newspapers should be "preaching the reach" or telling advertisers, investors and readers alike, just who is receiving the content
- The industry should recognize that content is crucial
- Regional press has "a real opportunity" to engage with citizen journalism
- We in the media cannot prescribe any longer what people should read or see or hear, the technology allows them to decide.
Also speaking at the opening of The Newspaper Society's CEP 2006 in Manchester (see former posting) were large publishers like Trinity Mirror, Johnston Press, and Northcliffe Newspapers,
Source: Press Gazette [Through the Ifra Executive News Service] and The Telegraph [speech text]
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Why did they show it at demo? Six Apart makes blogging software. Don't they know how to blog and get word of mouth going?