I recently listened to a Harvard IdeaCast (episode 172) on the challenges newspapers and the print media face today. The guest, Umair Haque, director of the Havas Media Lab, argued that the way print media and especially newspapers can maintain their relevance today is to start contributing to knowledge and not simply providing topical information. He argued that a 21st century newspaper offers a perspective, is highly specialised, gives knowledge, develops topics, and is written by experts in the field.
He then applies one his disruptive principles to the print media. He maintains that the focus needs to be on people not products. There need to be ways of connecting the journalists and writers directly with the readers. He mentions twitter and facebook as two tools that can facilitate this conversation. In essence he calls for a more social product.
The definition of the 21st century newspaper reminds me of a specific publication that however makes no effort, in fact appears blasé, about online social networks and web 2.0 in general. This is a publication that:
- Focuses significantly on the product, it is a 10 issue a year publication printed on thick, more expensive paper,
- Charges more than any other similar publication,
- Charges readers more for subscriptions than they would pay if they bought individual issues,
- Ignores online social media,
- Maintain little or no real online conversation,
- Maintains full control of what the readers are presented with no real option to respond - 20th century really -
While there is no facebook or twitter presence, the magazine organises events for subscribers and produces regular radio programmes (admittedly available on iTunes). Basically it uses offline, traditional methods to create and maintain a vibrant offline / real world community. The magazine also makes use of a lot of the elements associated with luxury brands, but I will leave this is for another post.
In short, Monocle does most of the things new media experts and consultants would advise them against. I guess it shows that while we feel at home using social networking tool and sourcing our own news, we still crave for some editorially controlled and curated knowledge + a feeling that we are part of a select group of people in the know!