An Insightful View on Mainstream Media

We often spend time writing about the sorry state of print journalism -- the dropping circ numbers, the vanishing pool of ad dollars and the fact that no one under 30 views the newspaper as central to their lives. But there is a larger disconnect than that. For the last several years, media viewer/readership (TV, print, Internet, radio) has been increasing at fairly sizable percentages. In TV alone, people are watching 15% more than they did a decade ago. So why are newspapers losing out?

Dan LeBatard, a Miami Herald sports columnist, has an insightful take on the topic, noting that newspapers should spend more time giving readers what they want and less time dictating content. His blog post, which he did for The Big Lead, discusses sports but it could be applied to mainstream media overall. It gives a sense of just how fearful the mainstream media is of blogs, the Internet and change in general.

Our favorite nugget from the column: "Newspapers aren’t giving you what you want. We are telling you what you should want, and you are doing an exceptional job of ignoring us. The marketplace has spoken, and the marketplace always wins in business." Understand that we're not for the dumbing down of society and we believe serious news needs to be out front when appropriate, but the increased consumption of media means people have specific wants and they'll go wherever they can to get find they're looking for. If you don't adapt, consider yourself a dinosaur.