Print, online press fighting to stay afloat as trends change - media gurus

Media publications are fighting to stay afloat as the trend in the media consumption behaviour has changed while also facing disruptions from technology giants.

In a forum 'Who's Killing Malaysian Media?' organised by the Malaysian Institute for Debate and Public Speaking, Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan, Karangkraf general manager Ahmad Nazri, Astro Awani editor Melisa Idris and Star Online senior editor A Asohan shared their views.

Melisa said the media landscape has changed where it has to adapt to the 24-hour news cycle while coping with social media.

"It means 24-hour dissemination of news. Then, there's a rise of social media where everyone has their own opinion... minor things become major news (but) journalists are restricted by time-constraint," she said in the forum held at Atria Mall, Petaling Jaya, today.

Asohan echoed the same sentiment, saying "we need to get the news fast. But by the time we are able to verify certain information, the rumours had spread on social media and it may not be accurate".

He added that there are people who consume talking points on social media which they could use in their conversations at mamak stalls, rather than actually reading and consuming the whole news article.

"Click and read the whole article," he said.

Commenting on the financial situation of the media industry, Gan stressed that technology giants such as Facebook and Google, which can build profiles of readers through their algorithms, have affected the business of online media organisations.

"Media organisations cannot compete with these companies. They know their audience, they go to business owners and say: 'Look, we are able to send you the audience that most likely buys your products.'

"That's where media organisations like us are unable to compete (to get advertisers)," he said.

For Nazri, he had drawn a conclusion that print media is as good as dead as "there's no way to make money".

"It's a losing battle. In five to 10 years, we won't see print magazines or newspapers," he said.

Nazri added that media organisations must think of ways to utilise the online platform to make money but he said they have to know their audience.

So far, according to him, the process has been a "hit and miss".

"We had to invest in certain technology to get the data. We need to install various programmes to learn about our audience. But it's a hit and miss... We invested a lot in the technology but the return-of-investment is not there.

Melissa opined that media consumers have to change their mindsets from consuming free articles to being a subscriber.

"We are just so used to get free news online. So when a paywall comes up, we would ask, 'why do I have to pay?'.

"We really need to be okay again with subscriptions. If you can pay for music streaming, movie streaming, why not subscribe for news?" she asked. - Mkini