Ok, not really. I was invited to participate in a roundtable discussion today about the state of the Triangle media by Fiona Morgan of the New America Foundation. The roundtable was to three general questions about our community:
1. How healthy do we consider the Triangle’s “information community?”
2. What are the challenges as we move into a digital age?
3. What are the opportunities for the Triangle and its communities?
Joining me were a number of leading media experts, both traditional and so-called “new media.” John Drescher of the N&O, Steve Shewel of the Independent Weekly, Barry Moore of the Garner Citizen (whom I last saw wearing a badge when I lived in Garner and was working closely with Garner PD), Kevin Davis of Bull City Rising, Paul Jones of Ibiblio fame, Gail Roper of the City of Raleigh, and many, many others. I felt a bit out of place in the room, as my experience with journalism ended when my high school journalism class did. Fiona has been impressed with my East CAC efforts to connect my community, so I provided perhaps a nontraditional angle to the discussion.
Our moderator, Tom Glaisyer from New America, was great in soliciting input from everyone present. When he asked for my input I shared my experience in gaining media exposure for the CAC, basically repeating what I told Fiona in the report. Soon after I spoke I realized how I had fallen into the trap of putting my experiences in terms of the traditional media when little of what I do has anything to do with traditional media. I told of how the mayor’s remarks at my meeting prompted publicity for my group, but instead I should have stressed that publicity really wasn’t my point. I blame it on the habit I’ve gotten into of tailoring my message to my audience. While that’s fine for sales (which is what I do), I think I missed a chance to really take things in a different direction today.
Towards the end of our discussion I had hoped to make one more comment, perhaps a chance to reframe the debate. I was going to share my view that media is trending towards being more local. Many smaller papers were represented today and almost all of them reported growth. Even the N&O’s local editions, the Midtown Raleigh News and the North Raleigh News, are successful for the paper. The key is the niche, though, and locally-focused news is one niche easy to fill. Fiona herself said at the start of our meeting that “people in Cary don’t care what happens in Carrboro,” and it’s true.
It wasn’t that long ago in this country that there were only four television networks. Then the dynamic duo of cable TV and satellite TV came along and almost overnight there were hundreds of channels competing for the same viewers. Niche channels have now sprung up, covering the gamut of interests. The days of a one-size-fits-all television network are long gone.
The Internet is now doing to the newspaper industry what cable and satellite TV did for television. Suddenly there are nearly unlimited sources of news available. The idea that one newspaper can serve the needs of everyone is completely outdated. Maybe even gone for good. The newspapers that succeed will be the ones that find a niche and serve it well. Local papers like the Garner Citizen, the Independent, and the N&O’s locally-focused papers will continue to find their audience. Papers like the N&O don’t need to downsize so much as to focus on its niches: local news, state government, and the like. It might be better off building its staff in its local efforts, rather than being as centralized as it is now. But I admit I know next to nothing about the newspaper industry outside of being an avid newspaper reader.
I also hoped to mention community radio at today’s meeting as I think its an often-overlooked solution to information dissemination. I am incredibly jealous of Carrboro’s low power FM community radio station, WCOM FM. If only I had something like that in my neighborhood! Low power FM is a high-tech way of reaching people of modest means and it’s not widespread because Congress quickly shut the door on it under pressure from the powerful broadcast lobby. The only Raleigh low power FM station (WVDJ-FM) is located somewhere off Glenwood Avenue west of the mall and to my knowledge is not actually broadcasting. What a shame. If there’s one place I think New America’s lobbying efforts would pay off it would be to get low power FM revived.
I enjoyed the conversation and the chance to put faces to the names I’d heard of for so long. I only wish we could’ve delved into the topic for a bit longer as I don’t think we really got to the crux of our issues. Having so many experts (and me, too) in the room at one time made for compelling conversation and I’d love to continue the discussion.