Thoughts on another media year

There are a number of fast forming trends shaping and reshaping the media. In a few short generation the influence of the printed has diminished dramatically with much of the audience seeking their content online, sometimes behind paywalls. Any well-informed clues on  where these trends are going is gold dust and the CIPR in this video-cast featured David Pemsel, Chief Commercial Officer, The Guardian; a paper advocating free access, for the time being anyway.

He highlighted that newspapers can be more flexible online, using a more diverse a selection of media  sources and formats. The Guardian take the view that they need to have a scale of usage to gather the influence necessary to be a news 'player', and that level of engagement presently only come from the site being without a paywall.

The discussion make a point about news ownership. The Guardian believes that their news content is most trustworthy as a result of their being owned by a Trust...an aspect they believe contrasts with other providers which may be subject to commercial or political pressures.There's also a perspective on newspaper opinion and if they are being dragged into a competition with bloggers for influence. The idea of the media 'melting pot' seemed central with good ideas and perspectives rising to the top.