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THE INVESTOR] The end of newspapers was last year. Or, maybe this year. In any case, the end has been coming for at least a few years now, perhaps up to a decade ago.
We keep hearing how the end is near. Along with the doomsday prophesies come the threats and fears that always accompany them: How nobody is reading the news anymore, and even if they do, how nobody will ever pay.
Most recently, JoongAng Ilbo, one of the top three publications in Korea, said its print version would soon become defunct. The Hankyoreh, a liberal publication with a flock of loyal followers, issued a similar announcement.
As these decisions reflect, it is true that many of the conventional, older publications have been experiencing a steep readership decline, not just in Korea, but all over the world. They are also struggling to go digital, but shifting the entire paradigm of a business is never easy.
First and second-generation reporters were chosen to write for newspapers, not to post stories on social media or websites. In fact, it was a big thing for some of them to move from writing by hand to typewriters and laptops. Now, the media actually has to churn out something that can be called a product. In the past, people paid for anything reporters wrote because they didn’t have access to information.
And now, well, you know the story, readers have become so much smarter that it’s hard to beat them with the pen.
But I don’t want to be so pessimistic because this is an opportunity for changes in the way the media raises profits; in the nature of the relationship between the press and readers; and in the way the media engages with corporations.
Due to the heavy financial reliance that media companies have on ads, many publications have turned into a sea of press releases or advertorials.
Regulations and social norms are self-conflicting as well. Despite the rapidly declining number of people reading newspapers, as many are aware, ad rates are still decided by circulation gauged by the Korea Audit Bureau of Certification. That’s why, despite dwindling readership, publications have to hang onto their newspaper market share.
Furthermore, the media rarely ventures out to actually engage the general audience, because despite brand power being derived from their loyalty and support, the money doesn’t come directly from them. So instead, the media chooses to deal exclusively with corporate Korea, and vice versa.
Thinking outside the box, however, could help.
There are media companies out there that have made it through tough times and are actually turning a profit or are on their way to doing so.
Recently, I had the privilege of speaking with the editor of an Israel-based publication that focuses on news related to organic light-emitting diodes. It’s a two-person outfit, but it had sponsors who made sense in making the investment. It also was churning out a profit with the handbooks and databases it was creating for its valued customers with deeper pockets.
I believe this is where the future for news is. As I have said above, readers are too smart now to be enticed by a story that has appeared everywhere else over the past 24 hours. It’s pretty obvious, but success will hinge on whether media outlets can provide either inaccessible information, immense insight, breaking news or specialized data.
This can be done. The Information is one such relatively new media outlet that succeeded in creating such a niche for itself. Quartz is another. The numbers are still few and far between, but more ideas will result in more next-generation media companies.
When this happens, and when news and information regain their value, then it will be time to stop handing out freebies. In Japan, Europe and some parts of the US, readers know that nothing is for free. It will hurt at first, but when paying for news becomes a rule, it will organically lead to better quality, and ultimately satisfied customers who will pay up to keep the media eco-system alive.
By Kim Ji-hyun
(jemmie@heraldcorp.com)
The writer is the editor-in-chief of The Investor