Two years of carnage: Emily Bell on the Great Crash and the Media
It was Apocalypse Now at Polis as the Guardian‘s digital content director Emily Bell warned of extinction for swathes of UK media in the wake of the Great Crash:
“We are on the brink of two years of carnage for Western media. In the UK five nationals could go out of business and we could be left with no UK owned broadcaster outside of the BBC. We are facing complete market failure in local papers and regional radio. This is sytematic collapse not just a cyclical downturn. Even the surviving brands will have to go through a period of unprofitability.”
Of course, The Guardian is in a special position, cushioned by its other media interests and by the liberal ethos of the Scott Trust. As it becomes more convergent it has an interest in talking down organisations like Channel 4 and the BBC which have become its rivals. But she’s right.
Bell recognises that this is more than a down-turn in the economy. This is bigger than a shift in advertising. This all co-incides with mainstream media losing the attention of the public. In summary, “We are moving from an age of representation to the age of participation.”
The question is how do media organisations move into that space and how do they make money out of it? Well, Emily’s short answer is that many won’t.
Here’s the Guardian’s own report of the talk.
Here is Emily’s column on the issue.
Here’s a slightly more optimistic analysis of the US newspaper situation.
Next up in the Polis Media Leadership Dialogues at 5pm on Tuesday 21st is Peter Bazelgette who will unveil some radical ideas on copyright.
October 14th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
[...] But according to Charlie Beckett writing about a Polis speech by the Guardian’s Emily Bell, that was a bit of an understatement…! [...]
October 14th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I wonder whether the media landscape – like the banking sector – has become just too big, too bulky and unable to adapt. There are, for example, far too many local radio stations in the market, many of whom are starting to become extinct.
Once the economy’s been flushed out, tidied up, and cleaned up, maybe the same will become of UK media, leaving us with a slicker, cleaner, leaner-and hopefully more diverse and creative industry…?
October 14th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
[...] POLIS, journalism and society think tank, is a joint initiative from LSE and The London College of Communication. « We’re all doomed: Emily Bell on the Great Crash and the Media [...]
October 15th, 2008 at 7:35 am
[...] Speaking last night at Polis, the journalism think-tank, Bell said she believed large parts of the British media industry could be rendered extinct and predicted “two years of carnage” for the industry. [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 8:13 am
[...] October 21, 2008 at 7:11 am · Filed under General ultralocal or hyperlocal stuff ·Tagged General ultralocal or hyperlocal stuff The Guardian’s media guru Emily Bell has predicted five years of carnage in the UK media as the economic downturn bites. Her lecture at Polis has set the media jelly quivering. Of particular interest is her forecast that companies that have to return profit to UK shareholders wil sufer the most – only the BBC, The Guardian/Scott Trust and the deep pocketed international Murdoch regime will emerge unscathed. “We could face complete market failure in some areas of regional papers and some areas of commercial radio,” [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 8:17 am
This could be bad news for pluralism at a local level. The best way to maintain or in many cases recreate diverse voices in a neighbourhod or community is to encourage communities to express themselves direct through online publishing by local volunteers.
We have been discussing this over here.
http://ultralocalvoice.wordpress.com/2008/10/05/talking-hyperlocal-ultralocal-workshop-at-mashup/
January 15th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
[...] The big ugly truth is that there will be fewer dollars or pounds or anything else for any kind of journalism. Or at least any kind of journalism that refuses to be Networked. This is going to lead to what the Guardian’s Emily Bell described at a Polis lecture as ‘carnage’. [...]
August 5th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
[...] is facing what one of its senior editors described as ‘carnage’ in a speech to Polis. Some see some kind of plot and office politics in the threat to The Observer. There may [...]