By Michael Crutcher
55 comms CEO
Australia’s media outlets are heading back to the past in a way that few in the industry predicted.
Our 55 comms executive director Ainsley Pavey found a perfect example when she looked into her family history and discovered a mention of her grandfather in the Townsville Bulletin of 1929.
He was named along with a stack of his classmates as the Bulletin reported on the Railway Estate State School’s annual fancy dress dance.
The students were described alongside the costumes they wore. There were “gipsies”, “wooden soldiers”, “Mistress Crust and Master Cheese” and even a few “Spring Chickens”.
The Townsville Bulletin was ahead of its time in 1929 because some of our largest media outlets are now again realising the importance of the little things.
Stories about schools, junior sport, local courts and local events are becoming more prevalent in media outlets as they chase vital online news subscriptions.
People are willing to pay for news – you just have to produce the stories that make readers want to part with their credit card details.
That’s why stories that would have been laughed out of a metropolitan newsroom only a few years ago as trivial are now treasured because they’re bringing in paying readers. People who want to read about their families, people they know, local news and even businesses who are going broke. Readers will spend a few dollars for details on a business that owes them thousands.
Facebook has already shown the power of hyperlocal news with the many group pages dedicated to news in particular suburbs or postcodes - everything from snake sightings to lost pets and break-ins.
Some people lament the change in news priorities but those people underestimate a very important point – businesses need income to pay their staff. News outlets are no different.
For too long, media outlets didn’t really care what their consumers thought of their stories.
The media business was all about the advertising dollars – and they came in like a king tide with job ads, real estate listings and classifieds.
The editorial department was openly referred to as the “non-revenue” section of the business.
So, journalists could act like a chef at a restaurant cooking up dishes that they liked no matter what the diners thought of those dishes. Who needed the diners?
When advertising moved online, and the revenues went with them, business models had to change abruptly.
So, the restaurant had to start producing meals the diners wanted to eat.
That’s why you’ll continue to see live-streaming of junior sports, stories on schools and stories about businesses going bust.
People pay to read those stories, and that helps to pay the costs.
It’s a part of the changing media world that continues to bounce around at blinding speed.