Mark Scott on Journalism

Mark Scott delivered a blunt assessment on the future landscape for traditional media in his A.N. Smith Memorial lecture at Melbourne University. He acknowledged that all the rules have changed and those media players that survive will be the ones that accept and embrace the challenges posed by the new circumstances.

In a speech that portrayed the 20th century as the golden age of media empires, Mark Scott predicted a contraction in old world media. While he said that some iconic mastheads like the New York Times will be able to command pricing power for online material, presumably through advertising and selling premium content, many other newspapers will decline. In an indirect reference to News Corp and the Murdochs, Scott linked declining old-media dominance and power with the old-media management style of command and rule, a habit that Scott said “is hard to break”.

Scott said of recent Murdoch statements that “you sense this rage at the injustice of what the online world is doing to his traditional model” yet as Scott also observed the success of Murdoch in print grew out of a deliberate policy to drive down the cost of content. Given the prediction that Scott and others have made that internet content will remain largely free for the foreseeable future there is something ironic in the current Murdoch move to paid content.

Scott did not avoid mentioning the fortunate position of the ABC or its relative freedom to pursue an internet audience. He did however underline some of the challenges confronting the ABC in the new age; how to maintain the integrity and quality of the ABC while at the same time allowing for more user generated media, how to maintain distinctly Australian stories in a global media market and how to provide a shared national experience.

In response to these challenges Scott alluded to a greater editorial and curatorial role, citing the current ratio of editors to journalists (62 to 4) on the Huffington Post. Hardly numbers that would inspire potential journalists at Melbourne Uni but Scott also predicted an ongoing need for quality investigative journalism, possibly produced cooperatively with other media players. He also predicted additional tools that will allow users to share ABC content and extend the distribution of ABC media into the social network space.

He also touched on the ongoing internal restructuring taking place within the ABC and suggested the ABC was not immune to the need for change. The now familiar ABC new media approach with its continuous news centre and local radio media hubs were again mentioned as Scott focussed on the exciting potential for the ABC to shape its own future in the new media landscape. If the ABC is still around in 33 years and occupying the same privileged position, Mark Scott may well be remembered for his role during these trying times.

The speech is available here for download.