WHY THE TRADITIONAL MEDIA IS STRUGGLING TO REMAIN RELEVANT.
By Philip Janet Kavutha
The traditional media, television, radio, and newspapers and magazines, used to influence the opinion of people, determine the national agenda and define what is considered to be news. Nowadays, their force is dwindling very fast. In the era of social media, online services and real time news the traditional media is losing its grip on the ever-increasing audience demanding their information to be quick, interactive and personalized.
Professor of Communications, Father John Culkin, SJ. rightly believed that “We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us,” This is the fact of the present-day media environment: as the world adopts new digital media, this media changes the way information is consumed, distributed, and appreciated, rendering the old media badly outpaced.
The rate of digital media is one of the key factors that have made this struggle. The news is now discussed within seconds on such platforms as X (Twitter), Tik Tok, Facebook and Instagram. The audience might have already viewed a story online even before it is printed in the newspaper or aired on the TV bulletin, usually by citizen journalists who were physically where the story was being told. The old media just cannot play with the speed and spontaneity that the digital platform provides.
The other issue is fragmentation of audience. The youths have shifted to the online platform where they have had the opportunity to select their niche content according to their liking. People can follow creators and reporters, who suit them, their values, style of language, and even their pace, instead of waiting on a radio program or a newspaper column. The traditional media that was founded on mass is creating trouble in a world that has customized feeds.
Trust is also a major issue. The trust of the people on old media is no longer so, and many people feel that mainstream media is partisan, old-fashioned and dominated by political and commercial interest. The digital platforms with all their weaknesses seem to be more authentic due to the fact that many voices, not only the institutions, must be heard.
Moreover, the advertising revenue which is the staple of the traditional media has gone online. Influencer partnerships, targeted advertising, and data-driven marketing are the new favorite brands that have guaranteed measurement outcomes. Such loss of revenues compels traditional media to save on expenses, staff and reuse content, further deteriorating their reporting standards.
Nevertheless, the traditional media do not have zero power. It remains credible, structured and professional like, qualities that are not always available on digital platforms. However, in order to remain relevant, it needs to change. This implies the acceptance of digital transformation,
reaching out to audiences on social media, creating multimedia, and investing in investigative journalism that goes deeper than scrolling headlines.
The traditional media is not dying due to uselessness. It is dying since it is not adapting with the world that consumes it. In order to remain relevant, it needs to redefine itself, redesign its initiatives, and regain its credibility with an audience that now requires immediacy, transparency, and interactivity. Media companies will not survive by having the loudest microphones in their possession henceforth but those who can adapt, innovate and go where the audience already is online, informed and fast moving.
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