There is a growing volume of new media content being produced in Australia, including from IA. Chris Were from Newsflock believes this should be consolidated into one website to provide an easily accessible alternative to the mainstream media.
I HAVE BEEN an avid consumer of news since early high school, around 15 years ago.
Back then I watched the nightly ABC and SBS news broadcasts, regularly read The Australian and the occasional local street press. The word “blog” hadn’t been invented yet, while Facebook and Twitter didn’t exist.
Fast forward to today and the world of news is completely different.
Social media has taken off, transforming how we all communicate. The blogosphere has enabled anyone with the inclination a free soap box. While Independent media outlets like IA bring together valuable research and insight from a variety of citizen journalists. We now have a whole spectrum of “new media” operating alongside a mainstream media trying to reinvent themselves in the online world.
This abundance of new media has been terrific for news addicts like myself, allowing us to stay informed, collaborate, research, fact check and try to hold people – in particular politicians and journalists – accountable for their comments and actions. In the process, those who have joined this online world have realised the extent current mainstream media is failing to do all these things.
However, I am in the minority.
Not everyone has the time or inclination to track down alternative viewpoints, let alone perform “due diligence” on the news they read. As such, the majority of people don’t bother and take the convenient option to consume the one-stop-shop of the traditional mastheads. This is why the mainstream media continues to be the main source of daily news for the general population and, hence, they control the conversations that take place across the country.
An informed public that can freely communicate is essential for a strong democracy.
Making information available or exposing wrongs through new media isn’t enough. If only a small fraction of the population read a story, does it really matter? If a story breaks on new media, but isn’t covered by the mainstream media, did it really happen? Will it influence an election? I dare say not (yet).
There has to be a better way forward which can give us the strong media required by a strong democracy.
There is an ever growing volume of quality content produced across new media in Australia, covering a large variety of niche topics. This content needs to be pushed into one website showcasing the best independent media in Australia, and in doing so, provide an easily accessible alternative to the mainstream media.
Importantly, this news needs to cover the broad spectrum of content that people will find when they browse a traditional masthead. The best sports, politics and entertainment news, opinion and analysis from across the independent media and blogosphere all in one spot. This ensures the content reaches the broadest cross-section of our community. Not only that, but the top stories should be determined by the visitors, ensuring the people are in control of the conversation taking place.
Bringing together Australia’s best new media would also introduce economies of scale and potentially open up new revenue sources. Investigative journalism is time consuming and expensive, so a new media financial model is necessary to ensure future sustainability. Imagine what new media could do if it had the resources of the mainstream media!
These are not insignificant challenges.
A new media financial model and widespread influence won’t appear overnight, however I believe the first step is providing easy access to the best new media in one location. It’s time the challenge was taken right up to Murdoch and Fairfax who control 11 of the 12 capital city mastheads in Australia.
What do you think?
What does new media need to do to increase its influence in Australia?
You can follow Chris and the Newsflock project on twitter @newsflock.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
