A new study released by the Pew Research Center confirms cutbacks in resources for once traditional media. The Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism findings show businesses, non-profits, government agencies and politicians are increasing their efforts to take their messages directly to the public.
Findings taken from the report include:
- Newspaper newsroom cutbacks in 2012 put the industry down 30% since 2000…
- In local TV, our special content report reveals, sports, weather and traffic now account on average for 40% of the content produced on the newscasts studies while story lengths shrink.
- A growing list of media outlets, such as Forbes magazine, use technology by a company called Narrative Science to produce content by way of algorithm, no human reporting necessary.
- …newsmakers and others with information they want to put into the public arena have become more adept at using digital technology and social media to do so on their own, without any filter by the traditional media. They are also seeing more success in getting their message into the traditional media narrative.
The study goes on to identify the following six major trends:
- The effects of a decade of newsroom cutbacks are real – and the public is taking notice.
- The news industry continues to lose out on the bulk of new digital advertising.
- The long-dormant sponsorship ad category is seeing sharp growth.
- The growth of paid digital content experiments may have a significant impact on both news revenue and content.
- While the first and hardest-hit industry, newspapers, remains in the spotlight, local TV finds itself newly vulnerable.
- Hearing about things in the news from friends and family, whether via social media or actual word of mouth, leads to deeper news consumption.
Source: http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/overview-5/
