Sea of Convergence

As many new students and young professionals enter into the study and the field of journalism, they are aware of concepts of social media and blogging when developing content or other strategic communication for their perspective media outlet or clients.

What about the established media professional who is out of the loop on such reporting techniques and these new strategic communication efforts to reach broader audiences? Newspaper, radio and television have been in the mainstream of society as sources of information for people for decades.

Of course, the established media professional has been taught through the course of years via educational and practical applications on how to develop messages to their perspective target audiences based on demographic criteria. In this Internet driven era, some of the old conventions do not apply.

The Internet and its technologies have eliminated the many distinctions between these mainstream media outlets. Web pages allow users to scan, view and listen to what information is relevant to their needs. It switches the model of the journalism industry from a news-driven profession to an audience-need driven model.

As communication technologies keep developing, novice users can capture images, videos and report real time news events as they happen. Also, users now have the ability to share these stories to other users via social media sites and blogging sites on the Internet.

As audiences eyes are switching to another medium as a source of information, advertising dollars are going with those eyes to catch their attention to sell a specific product or service. What does that mean for the mainstream media?

It is simple. When advertising dollars are being diverted to another channel of communication, there will be less money for that specific outlet. What does it mean for the professional at that outlet? It could be restructuring of the organization or potential layoffs.

What can media outlets do to survive this changing environment? Media outlets are following the old adage, “if you can’t beat them, then join them.” Some media outlets and professionals are joining in with users of online opinion based journalism when reporting news to their mainstream audiences.

Media organizations are recognizing these changes and using these technologies to their advantage enabling viewers to interact and report these stories as they happen. What about accountability?

In this new medium, this seems to be an afterthought. When operating in an Internet reporting environment, viewer attention like everything in the media industry is the top importance.

How does the industry effectively navigate?

* In my opinion, professionals must still adhere to traditional techniques while still applying new conventions when reporting the news or presenting information to the public.

* Know your various audiences. Mainstream media channels must recognize there are various audiences within their perspective markets by segmenting. Once identifying and segmenting the specific audiences, the media channel may have to devote energies into multiple news sites to appeal to each of these markets.

* Adhere to reporting relevance within each of these markets. If community journalism is part of the online rapport, this is one dimension the mainstream media is lacking the public is yearning.

* Gauge your success of the site by the number of hits you have on the site and comments left by viewers of the site of the stories reported or information presented.