Media layoffs hit new low

the Problem with Big Media


On Monday, April 30th The Associated Press reported that newspaper circulation had fallen another 2.1 percent in the last six months. This downward spiral of circulation has inspired major layoffs from several major national newspapers. In the first quarter of 2007 media companies have announced 4,391 layoffs a 93 percent increase from last year. Newspapers are not the only one's layoff people;
with six percent of the media job cuts coming from the magazine publishing and 12 percent from television.

In the middle of the coverage of the Virginia Tech Massacre NBC breaks its own record for the lowest prime-time viewership for the second straight week with an average of 6.2 million viewers.


Paying to reach everyone through a single dominant platform such as a general interest news outlet is a proposition that makes business sense for fewer and fewer advertisers.

Media organizations assemble and sell audiences, and the broad audience that a value-neutral news reporting operation tends to attract is no longer in demand, online or off.

What can still work, online and offline, is specialized content that appeals to a particular audience. The Economist, The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times are outperforming other papers.

While a few people are afraid that we are head toward a "Daily Me." where the media fragments into different niches to satisfy the desires of different marketers Google is making context-sensitive ads the industry standard. Every article and every video clip will find its own audience as people use search engines to pick and choose what they want.

No one wants to buy the whole paper if you are not going to read half of it. Why should you sit through a entire newscast when I all you want to know is did the Cubs win their last game?

While everyone else in the media is cutting back and crying over spilled milk Robert Murdoch is still smiling as he looks to add to his empire.

What is he doing now?

After Launching MySpace in China, Murdoch is planning a business-news television channel to challenge CNBC.
To gain a little prestige he is offering to buy Dow Jones, which owns the Wall Street Journal. This announcement rocketed Dow Jones shares up 58 percent.



Is the Media turning into Big Brother?