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 -
Crazy you say? Well Monocle is just that publication and it
appears to be flourishing. While
it maintains an online presence this is purely one-way its editor maintains
that he found a better alternative to twitter: a glass of wine and face-to-face
meeting. Monocle has taken a highly curative approach to presenting news and
opinions, and it works. It has a unique perspective, it develops topics, in
fact the magazine is divided into five general areas, and is written by
commentators sourced from around the world.
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!
