It is said that when America has a cold, Europe risks pneumonia. The metaphor certainly applies to general economics and politics. But it is perhaps also true for the media industry: newspapers, TV, online information. It is therefore good to look at what is happening on the other side of the Atlantic to understand what will happen shortly in the European information media. In the States, the sector is projected towards the future and some recent news offers an interesting perspective on the direction of change. After having fired the director Jill Abramson for reasons not yet clarified - but the rumors speak of a conflict with the CEO - it seems that the ownership of the New York Times is about to launch a radical reorganization. An internal report, which came to light thanks to a leak reported by the Economist - proposes, among other things, to support journalists with marketing men to make articles more attractive and thus attract more publicity.
In short, a small bomb. Meanwhile, the cases of journalism stars who leave the printed press for the web are multiplying: the last in chronological order was the 29-year-old Ezra Klein, a highly successful political commentator for the Washington Post, who resigned from the newspaper to found his own website web. But before him there were Nate Silver, the numbers wizard, who moved from the NYT to the ESPN group to open a data journalism site, and Walt Mossberg, who also left the Wall Street Journal for the web.
This news is paradigmatic of a more general situation characterized by fierce competition between the different media and by the strong attraction power of online, a power that also overcomes the market difficulties that characterize the same information on the net. That the printed paper industry is in a serious crisis in the United States (and even more so in Europe) is almost obvious. According to data from the American Enterprise Institute, advertising in American paper newspapers returned in 2013 to the level of the 2008s when the population was less than half and the economy seven times poorer. In Italy, to come to a European example, advertising has halved compared to the 19,4 peak (Nielsen data), while turnover has decreased by XNUMX%.
In truth, the advertising crisis does not spare even digital, where in 2013 there was perhaps no collapse but volumes have nonetheless marked time. In short, 2013 was an annus horribilis for everyone. However, the panorama of the offline and online news industry is not monochromatic. An almost Darwinian selection process is underway and there are newspapers like the New York Times, or online publications like the Huffington Post, which continue to make profits. Thanks to their credibility? Perhaps. Effect of the 799 subscribers to digital services that the Gray Lady has managed to gather in what appears to be a promising path towards digital integration? Possible. Of course, even those who are fully in the game, like the Times, cannot rest on their laurels and the newspaper's internal report is proof of this. The report starts from a fact: 60% of the Times articles are read via tablet or smartphone, Facebook or Twitter: therefore not in the paper or digital edition.
And management identifies two weaknesses in the excessive concentration of editorial staff in the print bill and in a careers policy that rewards journalists with a traditional background rather than new digital talent. Finally, the report proposes breaking down the wall between journalists and marketing in favor of a collaboration between those who find and interpret the news and those who instead analyze the public's tastes. It remains to be seen whether the union between journalism and marketing, the orientation towards building a newspaper tailored to the tastes of the public, whatever they may be, affects the quality of the information. Matthew Gentzkow, a Chicago professor and one of the media industry's top experts, is overall optimistic about the future of journalism. “The Internet – he said in a recent interview – has radically changed the information distribution technologies, but it has not changed the news production methods: if you want to know what is happening in Afghanistan you must have someone who goes to Afghanistan, puts life, take pictures and do interviews. And that requires talent and experience – scarce and expensive resources.”
