qed’s blog

While Julie Posetti makes some valid points about commercial radio, journalism and the internet, there is I think some lack of recognition of some of the broader issues in play in her post. Certainly 2GB’s entry into online news is an interesting development however it is mostly significant because of its base (commercial radio) and not from the perspective of what changes on the landscape of internet delivered news, which is not much.

Leaving aside the discussion about the impact on journalists who have to deliver content to a variety of mediums for a moment, the development by 2GB is revealing exactly because of its commercial nature. That commercial interests in Oz have been slow to take up the online challenge is history, and can be largely attributed to the rather conservative and risk adverse nature of big money in this country. This is amply demonstrated in the flight of bright young minds to lucrative jobs elsewhere in the world and similarly in the lack of venture capital available to kickstart the amazing crop of ideas and inventions that evolve in this country. Packer and Co were reasonably early adopters of the online “thing” with their NineMSN site but really they were taking no risks by associating their brand with a proven winner, Microsoft. Other TV players most notably Seven, followed suit, but other than capitalise on new ideas and the evolving nature of information delivery via the internet, they opted for an acquisition based process where new ideas were bought up and added to the stable, to be used or not depending on the wisdom of the day.

Perhaps it is overly critical to suggest that 2GB is merely following the pack, but there is not much new in their platform or their content. Is this part of the cycle of acceptance and mimicry that is amply demonstrated in other commercial media? Any new idea that gains a certain level of market acceptance is immediately copied by all and sundry. News is now a formula that commercial interests understand and use to achieve their own ends. It is push communications where those with the greatest weight or spread achieve saturation of the so-called market, this market is of course the marketplace of ideas and public opinion.

Ultimately the most disappointing thing about the LiveNews development is how it represents the interests of a very few with the object of informing or convincing the many of what is appropriate news and what is the public agenda. The slick purposeful web site may be what is required in the 21st century to carry your message to the people, but sadly the message is still the same as it is with all the other traditional media outlets, conformity and control. I don’t need and definitely don’t want a bunch of websites all offering me vaguely different perspectives on virtually exactly the same information, which is pretty much what the so-called news websites are degenerating into and I suggest the the general public is poorly served by such an arrangement. The web is a vehicle which can liberate everyone in terms of information sources, but one which the likes of 2GB and NineMSN would like to dominate to suit their own commercial ends.

It should also be noted how the new media is leveraging new technologies to actually reduce employment opportunities. While it can be argued that without taking advantage of the multi skilled and multiple platform delivery systems such things as LiveNews of even ABC News online wouldn’t get off the ground, there is a distinct danger that as the new mass media models take over there will be a natural reduction in the workforce. The traditional radio journo already is a complete package from acquisition to publication, online journos are similarly a one man band, armed with suitable video cameras and software. Only in TV are craft skills still delineated. The protection of craft is not holy grail, certainly the explosion of material on YouTube for example acts to somewhat counterbalance the monopolisation of video by traditional TV, but the loss of craft traditions and the rationale behind their existence can, to some extent, dumb down the viewing audience. Such simplification is again not an ideal process in a society trying to come to terms with a very challenging new world order.