Tuesday 16 November 2010

Society of Editors conference 2010: Notes from the future is ours – 2020 Vision What will the media look like in 2020

The future is ours – 2020 Vision
What will the media look like in 2020? An opportunity for senior editors to outline their vision for the media in the future.
Chaired by: Alastair Stewart, Presenter, ITV News
John Mullin, Editor, Independent on Sunday
Maria McGeoghan, Editor, Manchester Evening News
Douglas McCabe, Press and Online Analyst, Enders Analysis
Jodie Ginsberg, Bureau Chief UK and Ireland, Reuters

Alastair Stewart... Appetite for information is healthy as ever but people are finding different sources free to them but costly to us.
Douglas McCabe...
Diversity - whether platform, audience or commercial opportunities
Internet growth has not peaked, television consumption goner but newspapers circulation dropping at accelerated rate from 2003.
Deloittes survey - people who love newspapers have increased that love in the past two years
Ofcom survey - 2% would save print over all their media products.
He also referenced the lack of newsagents and said that would only continue. (This seems to be a recurring theme from people talking; maybe everyone should consider running "save your newsagents" campaigns!)
"there isn't a single media company not going through this - every medium is but news is going through more rapid change.
Times - quality audience pitch
Mail - quantity audience pitch
Jodie Ginsberg...
Publishing is not about the number of stories we publish it is about how we engage people - that js through fast relevant actionable and engaging content.
Chatroom/comment deb age between audience and journalist is important - combining facts, data, analysis and comment in an intelligent way.
Maria McGeoghan...
Ugc... We have to be aware of the power of ugc. Community editors, media teams in schools, proms - we put a panel in print and online and got 800 pictures.
Data journalism is very important and will be doing more in the future. Figures that you can use.
We need to ask audiences more about what they want. We have asked all our  weekly titles to vote for their own mastheads.
People lover court lists but also want the divorce lists back so we are looking into that. [That raises the question of public interest or interested public. I can hear the irate calls to news desk now...]
Partnering with local journalism college to give students a break into print is the next plan.
John Mullin...
Confidence has taken a dip over the last ten years. We have seen tighter budgets tougher management falling revenues and circulations
But we are producing much better products. We should remember that
We allowed ourselves to be intimidated and let younger tech savvy cohorts set the agenda; because the consumer is king or queen, the role of an editor was diminished, we believed.
That has started to change now. Journalists as we would recogniser them are much more to the fore than previously and are taking charge.
I don't know the future but without confidence in our abilities we will not get there.
Dominic Ponsford of Press Gazette asked if the Enders prediction about 2014 newspaper closures was still fair.
D Mc... "No, it is pessimistic, it is always a risk when you talk about number of closures. The structural changes in newspaper industry were underrated. Business will do everything possible to survive."
Alistair Stewart " the people who will be around in 2020 are not in this room today - they are the small start ups."
He also raised the issue that no one was really taking about convergence of media businesses.
Richard Tait, head of Cardiff School of Journalism
What they bring with them is of great value because they can use the skills they have learned and the skills of the editorial envelope around them to develop themselves and stories in new ways. We need more focus on how the technologies will transform journalism.
John Mean, editor Hull Daily Mail, asked what could be  done to halt Enders decline graphs
DMc ... "The advantage regionals have id the vast majority of the news you cove is unique to you. Flood the market in any way that you can to meet the demand."
MM... "There are interesting things happening all over the country. The audience issue is very interesting but getting money out of that audience is where we have to look."
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