JotCast | Digital Media Landscape 2020

Digital Media Landscape 2020

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Suyashi Smridhi

5:22

According to Newman, "Young people are less committed to news with no point of view." People also feel that the news is getting depressing.

5:23

Bringing in the issue of misinformation, Newman says, "More people think domestic politicians are the roots of misinformation according to the Reuters survey."

5:25

The Reuters report puts the figure for misinformation around 40%. On social media, 29% people feel Facebook is the root cause for misinformation. "But it varies from country to country", asserts Newman. In India, Kenya and Brazil, Whatsapp is a bigger problem.

5:26

5:27

Questioning how media companies can rebuild engagement, Newman says that email newsletters are a good source of information. In the US, 21% get their news from newsletters. According to Newman, senior journalists curate news every morning with an aim to bring people back to the habit of reading newsletters.

5:29

The second source of building engagement are podcasts. As per the Reuters report, podcasts engage young people more. Across 20 countries, 31% of the young population listen to podcasts.

5:30

How can news be made more engaging in the new digital world? @nicnewman believes Email Newsletters are the answer!
RT if you agree!
#ACJLive #DigitalMediaLandscape

5:31

However, Newman feels that the internet fragments attention and disrupts habits. This, he believes, has contributed to the losing relevance of digital news.

5:33

An audience member asks, "Does the rise in digital consumption include digital version of print or is it solely about digital websites?" Newman answers, "It's largely about websites, only the most loyal users will go for that particular version of print."

5:36

"Can the digital gain trust that the traditional media holds now," questions a student. Newman replies, "We ask and talk about trust in a general sense but we don't ask if you trust the different platforms of BBC. As long as there is trust in the brand, it makes no difference."

5:38

Answering a question about trust in digital media, Newman responds, "People basically say they trust TV first, then news sites and then social media after that. Radio is the most trusted, and I feel it is ahead of TV. In short it's possible for few large brands to build that trust in the consumers."

5:39

Objectivity is about understanding both sides but not giving equal airtime. It should be about understanding the facts and presenting them without letting your biases influencing it, @nicnewman replied on @jyotijourno 's question.

#ACJLive #DigitalMediaLandscape

5:40

Another student worries about exclusion created due to paywalls. Newman says, "There is whole line of questions on information and equality. We need a mixed ecosystem. In the UK, there is public service broadcasting where everyone gets high quality news for free. But this is not the case in all countries."

5:42

Audience: "Can political leaning from the reader's side pressure the editorial?" Newman answers by giving an example of the New York Times where people began unsubscribing because they didn't like the coverage around a certain conservative politician.

5:44

Answering a question about new innovations changing the digital landscape, Newman says, "Smartphone won as an interactive medium to connect to people. And the next is audio."

5:45

5:46

A student asks, "Most mainstream media organisations end up creating a false debate while talking about climate change. How does one negotiate the climate beat?" Newman believes that people don't want a false equivalence. He feels that people do want to understand scientific perspectives.

5:48

"In the future how do you see the attention span of individuals turning and how do we evolve to grab attention," asks another audience member. Newman says, "We need to recognize and think carefully about formats of journalism."

5:50

Talking about how to increase traffic on websites, Newman asserts, "Popular stories are available everywhere. In terms of subscription and publishing, it tends to be the stuff and quality you cannot get everywhere."

5:54

Fielding the last question about news brands and quality journalism, Newman says, "In many countries we have one or two quality players. He gives the example of the Guardian in the UK, which invests in quality journalism.

5:55