Free Papers the real media revolution?
Posted by Gavin Collins at Fri, 12/06/2009 - 4:03pm in
Gavin Collins from Corporate Mandate speculates on the future of print...
March saw the tenth anniversary of the Metro. Instead of commuters awkwardly avoiding each others' glances by staring at their feet, everyone now had a free paper in which to bury their noses and catch the latest news snippets.
Later came London Lite and TheLondonPaper, and regional papers outside the capital have launched cut down versions of their paid-for product as a free-sheet alternatives.
The impact of this free-sheet revolution is difficult to over-state. Take a glimpse inside any train, tube or bus during rush hour and the evidence is there for all to see. Hundreds of thousands of people all lapping up the same news pages at the same time. It's a media ballet in motion.
Media consumption on such a mass scale has meant that free-sheets have changed the tone of almost all other media channels. Attention spans have shortened and demand to get to the centre of the story in ten words or less has increased.
For the comms world, this has meant even more pressure to communicate complicated messages and issues quickly and simply. Even if you're not aiming for the Metro audience, the knock-on effect of a nation of free-sheet fed commuters has meant that news copy everywhere needs to be punchier than ever. It's a trend that is in evidence across the whole media landscape, accelerated by the growing importance of online media and 24 hour news channels.
And this, in a roundabout way, brings me to my point. Take a look at any newspaper today and read the first five pages. I guarantee that the stories you read will all have two very sensible, very understandable sides. I also guarantee that there will only be space in the article to explain one of those sides. The media today is more simplified and polarised than it has ever been, largely because the pace at which stories need to be told is getting quicker and quicker. For the comms professional, that means stories need to be better managed, better controlled and made of stronger messages.
I bet you never thought that the Metro has had such a cultural significance...
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Comments
An interesting article but I can't help feeling sad that such a rubbish newspaper (Metro) is perceived to have had such cultural influence!!
Some very good points made here I think. As a sociologist, it always interesting to me to note the effect that the media has on public, and not just in forming opinion, but also our interaction with each other, and what we look for in terms of the way information is presented to us.
Gavin is certainly a very impressive blogger, and I will be looking out for his positings in future. His family must be very proud of him.
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