Transcript Theorising media-democracy

Convergence, media
density and Africa’s
Information Society
Guy Berger, Rhodes University
1 September 2003
What we’ll cover
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Information society context
Media density
Commercialisation
Media coalescence and convergence
South Africa experience
Prospects in Africa
1. Info Society context
Us and Information
• We tend to assume that info is vital for:
– Democracy/despotism
• Why? Write down a reason
– Development/underdevelopment
• Why? Write down a reason
• African media’s place in the role of info:
– Reactionary or progressive?
– Mainstream or marginal?
2. Media Density
Conceptualising Media Density
• What would it refer to? Write a definition
• First World and Third World:
– Info overload vs Info starvation.
– Media -> identity, vs Media -> low impact.
– Media -> politics, vs Politics -> media.
– Media as economics, vs Fragile media.
Density = quality or quantity?
• Write down 2 arguments for why,
wrt to Africa’s politics and economics,
– the quality of content is more important
than the volume of content.
• Write down 2 arguments for why
– quantity is overall more important
My view:
• “More” media = prospects for quality:
– Schechter: more you watch, less you know
– Berger: the more there is, more you can find
• Africa’s priority is to grow its media
industry!
• Aim should be to build media density.
How???
• Coming up:
– What drives media development?
– Can media grow faster than the general
economy?
• First, write down 2 points for each topic:
– Political preconditions for media growth
– Economic preconditions
– Sociological preconditions
– Technological preconditions
Analysis: Media Density
• Modernisation theorists looked at:
– Urbanisation, literacy, newspaper sales,
radio ownership, cinema attendance,
telephones per head, TV set ownership,
– Implicit in this:
• Tech Distribution (sets per 1000 people)
• Tech Usage (sales, calls, paper consumption)
– Spending on information (% of GNP)
– Info workers as % of occupations
Deconstructing density
• Distinguish between:
– Media Provision
• More media in the society
– Media Consumption
• More use of the media
• For me: density works at both levels
Growth on the supply side:
• Give 3 examples, then look at mine:
• More media by expanding existing:
– More pages, new supplements
– Faster, more frequent delivery & turn-around
– Longer news bulletins
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cntd …..
Growth on the supply side:
• More media thru increase in outlets:
– New titles in a stable, sister stations,
greenfields ventures
• More media thru increased reach:
– wider signal distribution, reach extra
audience outlets, syndication, more
possibilities for advertisers.
• More media thru new platforms:
– (eg. web, cellphones, electronic billboards)
Growth on the demand side
• Give 3 examples, then look at mine:
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Access: (literacy, language)
Availability of receivers: (sets, phones)
Awareness: (result of marketing)
Appropriateness:
– Timing, content appeal and use-value.
• Advertising: (ad-readiness by sellers)
• Affordability: (elasticity of budget items)
Which is more important?
• Deepening media density depends on
both the supply & demand side working
at optimum levels.
But:
• Does supply drive demand, or
• Does demand drive supply?
Write down 2 reasons in favour of:
– “Media supply drives demand”,
– And “Media demand drives supply”.
Complex linkage
• Consumers can increase time with media, or
imbibe extra media by sharing others’ intake.
– So demand can increase, without any increase in
supply.
• And, increased production does not
necessarily mean more consumption!
– You can add inserts to a paper, who reads them?
But whichever leads,
ultimately, expanded supply is needed if media
density is really to show an increase
3. Looking at the
supply-side
Growing media supply
• Media grows through new products or
expansion of existing ones.
• The demand market is a both a constraint
and an opportunity.
• We can pinpoint conditions for growing
supply, relatively independent of demand.
Growth is facilitated by:
• Politically enabling environment (eg.
pluralistic policies in broadcast)
– Conditions increasingly favourable
• Economic context & possibilities
• Economic strategies:
– Commercialisation
– Concentration & centralisation
• Tech (eg. FM, dtp, web, convergence)
Eco’s context & possibs:
• McCoombs’ Constancy Factor
– Media in USA was never > 5% GNP
– Media spend per household also 5% max
• Implications:
– New media have to take from old media.
– Re-slicing of a fixed ad and audience pie.
– People don’t increase their total media
consumption, instead they switch between
“Functional Equivalents”.
Africa’s context
• We come off a low base (less than 5%)
• Also have potential to export
• In the Info Age, industry has to grow!
• Unlike the USA, we are open to role of
extra-market resources for growth –
eg. volunteers in community radio,
state subsidy for public broadcasters or
grassroots media.
Economic strategies
Commercialization = problem in North
 Oligopolies & alliances (= barriers to entry)
 Commoditization (= sensation, expense)
 Conservatism (= panders to prejudice)
 Cultural ethnocentrism and narrowness
Economic strategies
Commercial positive role in the South?
 Develop dynamism outside of moribund states?
 Democratic significance independent of govts?
 Good for governance & wider economic growth.
 Small markets, but low labour costs
 Eg. local content can be competitive to imports.
Economic strategies
Commercial positive role in the South?
 Leapfrog into new markets (eg. cellular).
 Retain space for non-commercial facilitation.
 Incredible info riches lying waiting to be “mined”.
Commerce and African media
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Much growth nowadays is market-driven.
Services the elite.
Cherry picking (= the poor are neglected).
= Limitation in terms of democracy & devt.
Knowledge Gap theory: elites use the info.
But
• no point in shared info-poverty,
• An un-informed elite benefits no one.
Commercialism’s children
• Coalescence:
– Industry level,
– Organizational level
• Convergence:
– Technological level
• Both of them:
– Reduce costs
– Expand output
• A blessing or a curse?
Coalescence
• Merger, acquisitions, ownership.
• Alliances and 3rd ventures.
• Collaborations:
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Marketing
Content-sharing
Research
Purchasing inputs
Examples from SA
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Joint advertising sales
Cross-language publishing – eg. Naspers
Fusion – eg. Business Report
Piggy-backing – eg. Sun
Newsrooms – Cape Newspapers
Audience data-mining & sale – Sunday Times
• Conclusion: positive for Media Density
4. Convergence
Significance
 Digitalisation and Networking =
 Media content costly to produce,
 But cheap to reproduce.
USA example
 Time Warner and AOL merger
 Bid to control content & distribution platforms
 Various Telco’s looking at content link-ups
 Effect on media density? Too early to tell
Convergence in media
Print
Broadcast
Online
Print
Broadcast
Online
Examples in USA
• Chicago Tribune, Tampa Tribune,
Washington Post
• Combining newspaper, radio, TV and web.
– Mainly content-sharing after production,
– A degree of production integration.
• Results:
– Less cost-effective than expected.
– More, and richer, content outcomes.
Examples in SA
History of Web: 1995 ->
• Web sites emerged as added-platform publishing
• Portal development & e-commerce aspects.
But 2000 ->:
• Medium neglected: poor interactivity, multi-media.
• Poor revenue and sustainability.
• Websites now just add-ons, brand-building role
• Small – but strategically NB - incr in density
More examples in SA
Production convergence:
• Most print/broadcast + web were failures at
integrated newsrooms.
– “Ghetto” mentalities too hard to change.
– Convergence -> diverged operations -> relocation but still no real integration.
– Web remains picking up crumbs.
More examples in SA
Production convergence:
• Bi-media experiment at SABC failed:
– radio = “Cinderella”, diluted output quality
– Hard to train, hard to manage.
Indications
• Convergence is thus not a panacea for
increasing Media Density
• Technology promise is not realised
• But – don’t write it off yet …
Glimmers of hope
• Web advertising is growing.
• Non-media groups are now web-publishers.
• Co-ordinated multi-platform synergies
evident in Big Brother.
• Database-driven multiple media publishing
is growing.
Glimmers of hope
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Cellphone platforms show potential.
Wi-fi is emerging.
Connectivity increasing, costs declining
More online users each day.
5. Overview
Context: Africa
• Poor results from Pana
– Due to old politics, eco’s, analogue media
• Now there is increasing democracy and
economic integration across continent
• Prospects for more media?
– Good global and African preconditions
– Coalescence proceeding
– Convergence not dead, just beginning to walk
Summing up (a)
We have:
• Looked at the Big Picture:
– Media’s place in information society
• Analysed concept of media density:
– Media production, and media consumption
• Assessed political conditions:
– Generally more positive for media growth.
Summing up (b)
• Looked at economic trends and conditions:
– Commercialisation, coalescence effects
• Taken stock of technology:
– Track record of convergence, limits & potential
Conclusion
• African media’s reach and role is changing …
• Will we lead or lag in relation to the political,
economic, and tech possibilities?
• It depends on our information and
understanding, and our ability to
communicate this.
• So, it is partly up to us!
Thank you
http://journ.ru.ac.za/staff/guy/fulltext/density.ppt
See also:
http://journ.ru.ac.za/staff/guy/Research/Democracy/moremedia.htm