Fairfax Media and News Corp news websites will both be bankrupt in 12 to 24 months if predictions on the ABC’s Media Watch Monday show are true. The predictions are backed up by hard financial evidence and the opinion of numerous well informed people within the media industry. What was also telling was the refusal of both Fairfax Media and News Corp to give interviews for the show.
If the Fairfax and News Corp websites go their papers will follow soon after and other websites such as Yahoo7 and Ninemsm probably won’t be far behind in closing. We all knew the dynamics of media was changing it is just how fast and to what extent that is surprising and social media such as Facebook is a major factor.
It’s a big call by the Media Watch show but all they did was state the obvious based on the evidence which everyone else has been avoiding. The newspapers are dying because of the loss of advertising revenue but now it is obvious that many news websites will be gone very soon as well for the same loss of revenue.
The major piece of evidence of the imminent demise of the two online media power houses was that in the last 12 months Google and Facebook and have increased their combined online advertising revenue in Australia by $1 billion. At the same time other online advertising in Australia has decreased by $700 million in the last 12 months. Fairfax Media and News Corp would have been the biggest losers in $700 million decrease in advertising and are in massive trouble if the pattern continues. And most industry experts on the show expect the pattern will continue.
The biggest reason for this is globalisation via the internet as internet giants like Google and Facebook muscle in on the Australian advertising market which has historically underpinned Australian media companies such as Fairfax Media and News Corp.
The Media Watch show is below and runs for 16 minutes and really is a must watch given the rise of social media means we are all part of the media game now and so should take an interest in where the media ios going. It also gives a good insight into the immediate future of Australian media.
(Click here to watch on the Media Watch website and read the transcript)
Kangaroo Court of Australia and the future
The business model of the major online news media players is failing and what the ultimate business model will be no one knows. I have no doubt that there will be opportunities for small niche players like this website to grow substantially and it needs to grow to achieve what I would like it to.
While this website isn’t huge it has a lot of potential and is heading in the right direction and needs to so it can help fill the void when the mainstream papers and/or websites fail. For example if you have a look over the last three months I have had individual articles that have been liked on Facebook over 6000 times in March, 3000 times April and 3000 times in May and numerous other articles liked over 1000 times. These numbers would be good on the mainstream sites but are extremely good since they are coming off a base of 3084 email followers for this website and 1004 followers of the relatively new Facebook page. If some of those articles had of been published on the mainstream sites they would have been liked 10, 20 or 30,000 times which even the mainstream media sites rarely do with their own articles.
So the plan for this website is to hang in there the same as everyone else in media is doing and keep growing until change comes and hopefully opportunities will arise. It is now looking like that the change will happen sooner rather than later.
Conclusion
Based on the Media Watch show I have no doubt that Fairfax Media and News Corp and others are facing the perfect storm as the show says and it is impossible to see them all lasting for much longer. This is where it becomes important for myself and this website and others like it to fill the void that will be left in keeping politicians, governments and business etc accountable.
Some will argue that the fast approaching media shake-up is not a bad thing as the mainstream media have failed democracy anyhow and it is time for other media players to grow and replace the old guard. I agree but the transition will not be easy although it should ultimately give greater empowerment to the public.
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Categories: Fairfax Media, Media Watch, News Corp
As the media has taken on left wing bias in political reporting over the past few years, so has the “silent majority” switched off watching or reading mainstream media. They could hardly expect to alienate around half or more than half of the population and see no consequences. Constantly attacking Abbott, and giving pretty consistent critical opinions of the current government has not been terribly smart. Balanced and fair reporting with a bit more on the positive side would work wonders. Could be a bit too late to change direction now.
Unfortunately for Mainstream Media, people simply will not subscribe to commercial News sites because they are fed up with their blatant Left-wing bias, their selective political spin on vital issues of concern (such as the Royal Commission into Unions and migration), and their cover-up of documented facts when it comes to the background of the likes of Gillard, Turnbull and Shorten et al.
They simply don’t tell the truth.
Journalistic integrity is completely lost – either at the behest of their editors or under threat from crooked politicians who sue media organisations at the drop of a hat. Journos will say and do anything to maintain their precious “access” to political shakers and movers.
You’re right – online sites such as KCA will grow exponentially as the MSM fails, so hang in there.
Competing against two outlets that get all, in one case, and most in the other, of their revenue from the taxpayers pocket makes it even harder for any company that relies on advertising to survive. And Facebook having all the power to control the news is in no way a good thing given the recent exposing of their fiddling with trending topics and blocking people who have views they don’t agree with.
Good riddance, as I said on another news website “The mainstream media has no credibility. In fact, it is so bad that the fish market down in Port Macquarie uses international newspapers to wrap the fish – the fish refused to be wrapped in Australian newspapers”.
As much as Fairfax, and News deserve whatever they get, I see no gain for us from the likes of Facebook and Google taking that kind of power on themselves. Meet the new boss…..
This is another war on the media in the digital age or is this simply a case of the big fish eating the small fish, ah yes, warning: we are in shark infested waters. Looks like the Americans have done it to us, again or have we not seen the writing on the wall? So unless one of us comes up with a brilliant new idea like a new search engine… we are doomed to use Google and what have you for the rest of our lives.
Maybe, Fairfax could work with Bing or FireFox. Just a thought… its American any how.
Mainstream news websites are failing because no one wants to pay for anything any more – music, books, movies or news.
Unfortunately, reporting costs money.
At the moment, Google and Facebook (and many other free news sites) serve up content by either linking to legitimate sites who pay their staff, or simply “scraping” content (theft).
What will they will serve up when these sites fold? If they rely solely on their user contributions, it will just be a mishmash of gossip, rumours and half-truths with poor grammar.
If I believed in conspiracy theories, I would suggest that is exactly what the elite political class want in the west.
An educated middle class can stand up to power. An ignorant, fearful underclass simply whinges a lot and fights amongst themselves.
I am happy they are going bust. They report lies!
Stopped reading Fairfax years ago. In the ’90’s they used to be much more blanced even though you knew the paper had a left slant. Somewhere in late 90’s they devoted less and less space to alternative points of view to their editorials and purged the few right of centre columnists they had. That ended it for me with The Age anyway.
News.com has had a sharp turn left but is only recent. Use to be balanced right of centre though employed lefties like Farr and Adams who seemed to have free reign. Seems they hired a heap of brainwashed graduates who only know how to regurgitate the narrative of some of their far left lecturers. Lately though it has got even worse, once renowned for robust discussions in their comments section they now disallow comments on all but the most uncontroversial subjects. Though I guess they weren’t liking the feedback, from illegal immigration to SSM comments were going strongly against the narrative and it showed that most of the wetbacks News had hired had never engaged in debate outside their group think social bubbles. So we end up where News is now, pushing every boutique issue that 70% of the population either have strong views on or don’t think should be a priority over more important matters like am I going to have a job next week or how to pay the renewable inflated electricity bill next month. Plus previously right of centre publications like The Australian have turned left. It is natural, people vote with their feet and wallets especially when Left of centre views are catered for by a free to air ABC.
As for Face book and twitter, this quote from Zuckerberg sent chills down my spine as someone who remembers the time of the Iron Curtain, “Facebook’s Zuckerberg: “‘we need to do some work’ on curtailing anti-immigrant posts about the refugee crisis. ‘Are you working on this?’ Merkel asked in English, to which Zuckerberg replied in the affirmative.” I would be more worried about Facebooks and Google’s controlling the media when ideologues like Zuckerberg run things.” With most of social media being controlled by these organisations I would be vary wary this is the way forward.