Friday, 14 October 2011

Convergence Part 2













 “Convergence can be defined as the dynamic approach or partial integration of different communication and information-based market applications. A further aspect of convergence is that it brings out integrated multimedia products and services that render possible the satisfaction of additional and multiple consumer preferences.”
                                                                                                Gracie Lawson-Borders, 2006

As the internet breaks all distance boundaries in communication, most media organisations have become part of this network, whereby convergence between broadcast, print and online news is the norm, meaning consumers have access to voice, print and video from anywhere at any time.

There are obvious negatives to this type of media convergence, which I discussed in my last blog post. However there are definite positives as well; media convergence leaves room for many technologies to co-exist. Whilst there has been much hype about the so called ‘death of the newspaper’ and major ratings losses for broadcast providers, these mediums do still exist and probably won’t ever be replaced whilst democracy and choice exist. 

There are people embracing online content to the point they feel they don’t need other mediums to gather news content, however there will always be people who choose to read the newspaper, watch television news, listen to a radio bulletin, because these mediums are more convenient for them (journalists included). Networking just allows media organisations to meet a broader audience in a variety of ways.

According to Media organizations and convergence: case studies of media convergence pioneers, by Gracie Lawson-Borders, ‘a survey by the Pew Centre for Civic Journalism in 2000 found that 9 out of 10 editors from 360 newspapers stated that more interactivity with readers was key to the future of their business.’

Getting off topic a little, the book mentions one of the most ironic examples of convergence: the success of Amazon.com  in using an electronic medium to sell one of the oldest mediums, books. Another successful example of convergence (related to journalism this time, I promise) is the combination of The Wall Street Journal and www.wsj.com, where the company asked consumers to subscribe to the online content in 1996 and by 2003 had more people accessing the print and online content than ever before (2.6 million to be precise). You can read more examples in the book (linked here).

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