Jamaica Observer – Active Voice

It was just a few weeks ago that I was on a radio programme with some of the head honchos of local TV/Cable TV programming arguing about the broadcast locally of NBC’s programme The Voice. I was trying to explain that the era of ‘exclusivity’ broadly speaking was on its way out and that perhaps buying the ‘exclusive rights’ to broadcast a popular American TV show, then thwarting your viewers by not broadcasting the show live because you think you now have a captive audience might not be the way to go in the future.

The head honchos were most indignant at the very suggestion, pouring scorn on it and making out that I was 20 years behind the times when it was clearly they who were out of the loop. Haven’t you seen what’s happening to traditional media, I asked. Haven’t you noticed what’s happened to the distribution and consumption of music globally? Haven’t you been following the death of huge newspapers all over the world? Why do you think TV’s going to be immune from these trends? Oh no, said they, I didn’t have a clue what I was talking about.

Well, less than a month later here are some news stories that prove my point. Of course they’re mostly about media in the USA but have no doubt, the winds of change are not going to leave Jamaica unscathed, much as our media heads would like to think so.

It makes me laugh to see the two local newspapers offering subscriptions to their digital editions at a measly 20% discount when the New York Times is available at an introductory rate of 99c for a month. Quite frankly the difference between them is comparable to that between a Rolls Royce and a Lada so no prize for guessing which one I’d choose if I have to pay similar rates for both. The NYT is US$3.75 a week, the Gleaner is $2.99 a week and at JMD$ 1,248.00 per month the Jamaica Observer is similar in range to the Gleaner. For the $3.75 a week I can also get 100 articles from the NYT archive per month, an incredible value in itself. Neither of the local papers offers any such incentive. I’d be curious to know what their digital subscription figures are. Joke ting dat as they’d say here.

Anyway, have a look at the articles below. The first one is a real gift with all sorts of graphs and table and statistics measuring the decline of traditional media, the other one covers the departure of top US TV host Katie Couric from the ABC network to Yahoo, that stalwart of new media. It’s a sign of the times, let’s hope our head honchos either get with it or we get new head honchos who ARE with it. Soon.

Well, how are these media outlets going to sustain themselves you might well ask, if they’re not able to charge subscribers? Other more creative ways have to be found of building a subscription base, as the third article demonstrates. Using a wildly innovative model based on the concept of property ownership, an unapologetic real estate trope, NSFWCORP rapidly increases its subscriber base by offering customized plans of ownership at different rates. Another example of mass customization, an organizing principle that is coming to rule the day.

Finally, a little brawta or extra, sent to me by @marciaforbes on Twitter, a piece on ‘triple-play revenues’, new kinds of bundling arrangements that represent the future for media subscription models.

TV Is Dying, And Here Are The Stats That Prove It

Business Insider

The TV business is having its worst year ever.Audience ratings have collapsed: Aside from a brief respite during the Olympics, there has been only negative ratings growth on broadcast and cable TV since September 2011, according to Citi Research.Media stock analysts Craig Moffett and Michael Nathanson recently noted, “The pay-TV industry has reported its worst 12-month stretch ever.” All the major TV providers lost a collective 113,000 subscribers in Q3 2013. That doesn’t sound like a huge deal — but it includes internet subscribers, too.

Broadband internet was supposed to benefit from the end of cable TV, but it hasn’t.

In all, about 5 million people ended their cable and broadband subs between the beginning of 2010 and the end of this year.

…

We’re at the beginning of a major historical shift from watching TV to watching video — including TV shows and movies — on the internet or on mobile devices.

This is going to hurt cable TV providers.

Nearly 5 million cable TV subscribers have gone elsewhere in the last five years. The number of cable TV-only subscribers remaining could sink below 40 million later this year, according to this data from ISI Group, an equity research firm (at right).

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/cord-cutters-and-the-death-of-tv-2013-11#ixzz2lh01XAPA

Does Katie Couric’s Move to Yahoo Signal the End of Old Media Dominance?

By David Freedlander

November 25th 20131:40 PM

When, years from now, historians try to piece together the exact moment that the balance of cultural power shifted from old media to new, when the old lions guarding the gatehouse were flattened by the democratizing power of the Internet and social media, the events of the last few months, or even the last couple of days, may provide a clue.

On Friday, news broke that Katie Couric, one of the most recognizable stars of television, was leaving ABC for Yahoo News. During any other month, that news alone would have signaled a new world order, an upheaval in the pecking order. But in November 2013, Couric was just the latest high-profile media talent to leave what was once considered a lifetime post for a job at a website that in the public mind’s at least last saw its heyday back when Friendster and Meetups and “the netroots” ruled the digital airwaves.

In joining Yahoo, Couric followed Matt Bai, the chief political correspondent for theNew York Times Magazine, and David Pogue, the Times technology columnist, whose arrival was announced in the previous weeks, and Megan Liberman, who in September left her post as deputy editor of the Times in order to become Yahoo’s editor in chief.

Need more proof that an Internet search engine whose name is synonymous with boorish, loutish behavior believes that it can find room for itself in the new establishment? Next year, Yahoo will be abandoning its longtime digs overlooking Manhattan’s Bryant Park and moving a few blocks to the north and west, to the old New York Times building, a sacred piece of real estate in the geography of Manhattan media.

Porous Paywalls Are Not The Answer To Anything. Cartoon Towers, On The Other Hand…

There are four big takeaways from all this:

One. Subscribers are the lifeblood of any serious journalism startup hoping to succeed in the consumer market. Strict paywalls are by far the best way to reward those subscribers for their support and to encourage non-subscribers to take the leap.

Two. Even with a strict paywall, there are a number of things publishers can do to keep their content visible to the outside world. For example, we allow subscribers to create 48-hour temporary links for articles they want to share with friends — but that sharing power always stays in the hands of paying subscribers.

Three. Power users are your most important ambassadors and can be your biggest financial supporters. Offering them something special — a lifetime subscription, special events, public acknowledgement of their support — in return for their support is the perfect way to encourage and reward that behavior without alienating regular subscribers. (And apparently, if you do it right, you can even turn non users into power users right from the start.)

Four: Conflict Tower and subscriber-driven sharing are our solutions to the challenges of paying for journalism in the Internet era. You might be able to think of something far smarter. But surely we can all agree that porous paywalls which reward casual browsers while punishing fans can’t possibly be the right answer to anything.

6-y-o dies, sisters injured after freak accident at beach

Published: Wednesday | August 21, 2013 16 Comments
Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer

What started out as a pleasant holiday trip to a beach in St Ann over the weekend was suddenly transformed into a nightmare for a 28-year-old father of two when a jet ski raced out of the water on to land and into his children, killing one and leaving another battling for life.

Richard Hyman’s six-year-old daughter, Tonoya, was killed by a deadly blow from the jet ski, while yesterday, it remained touch and go for her four-year-old sister, Remonique.

For more go here.

This story is typical of the farcical reporting that passes for journalism in Jamaica. It focuses completely on the victims and says nothing about the perpetrator of this killing. Instead it makes it sound as if a rogue jet ski emerged from the water and struck this poor family down. Jet skis do not propel themselves. Tell us who was riding it and at exactly what beach this ‘accident’ happened. As usual Jamaican media is more interested in protecting the name and reputation of the wealthy (the owner of the jet ski, its rider, the beach in question). Nowhere in this story is there a sense of the outrage this unnecessary death represents. Disgusted.

Here’s the view of writer Marlon James, who posted the article on Facebook with the following comment:

So you’ve been looking around for an example of Yellow Journalism. Look no further. How do you report on a act of manslaughter without implicating the possibly rich, influential or foreign person responsible? You recast it as a Stephen King Horror story (minus the talent) of a rogue jetski becoming suddenly animated with freak power then charging on its own into an unsuspecting family, killing a kid in the process. Who was the skier? Which beach? Who owned the jet skis? Private or a company? It’s called Journalism, Gleaner. You’re here to give us the news, not protect the interests of whoever’s reputation might be damaged because they slaughtered a child.

Yes, yes I know all about the supposedly draconian libel laws in Jamaica but honestly isn’t this just a case of a senior journalist from the newspaper of record willfully gagging himself? Does the Gleaner realize how ridiculous these stories sound?

And its not just the Gleaner either. A few days ago, reporting on tensions in West Kingston the Observer carried this masterpiece of evasive, or is it defensive, reporting:

“Police intelligence suggests that since the arrest and subsequent extradition of Christopher Coke, individuals said to be related to a prominent family that claimed to rule the community from the nineties to 2010, and others claiming to be relatives of a late well-known resident, who claimed to be a ‘Don’, and was said to be the leader of the community in the1980s have become involved in a deadly battle for control,” a police statement Monday said.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Police-beef-up-presence-as-crime-mounts-in-West-Kingston#ixzz2ceomXVA9

What is this — a suss column?? These families and Dons have no names? In the 21st century is this what passes for reportage? What’s the deal here? Why is it so hard to just say that the descendants of Claudie Massop, the Don who ruled Tivoli Gardens once and those of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, are locked in a deadly power struggle?

Just what we need when the country seems to be going down the tube…a media that won’t call a spade a spade.