Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Comment on the speech by Ruphet Mardock


Day3

A review about Ruphet Mardock’s speech to American Society of Newspaper Editors, April, 2005
 
CEO of News Corporation - Media & Entertainment Company, in the U.S delivered a speech about the trend of newspaper industry in the US to the American Society Newspaper Editors in 2005 on the role of newspaper in the digital age.

Mr. Murdock told editors the needs to go back to the drawing board to critically think and identify their target group. He mentioned that today’s generation are the digital natives were most of us are digital immigrants.

'Before we can apply our competitive advantages, we have to free our minds of our prejudices and predispositions, and start thinking like our newest consumers' pointed Murdock.  He  insisted on the change factor were if the newspaper industry wants to survive it will have to answer fundamental questions like 'what do we need to do to be relevant to the digital world', and consider changing how we think like “Do we have the story? rather than “Does anyone want the story?”

It is up to us to be aware of the fact that ‘give people the control of the media, they will use it. Don’t give people control of media, and you will lose them.’ However editors are left without choice but to change.

Back in 2005, this was like a dream and or a prediction. Today we see how newspaper industry is loosing in circulation and advertisements. Mr. Murdock suggested that in order to keep our readers we might be forced to put our news papers on the internet. This way instead of giving only text we could also give text and video at the same time.

'Today the newspaper is just a paper; tomorrow it can be a destination' said Mr Murdock

On the other hand in Tanzania the situation is different. We are still at the dark age of the digital era. It is newsrooms that determine and set agendas, our readers still wait for editors to tell them what is important, news will wait until tomorrow morning to be read on the newspapers, we are still on the age of a cup of coffee and newspaper on the table in the morning,



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