The roots of traditional media are heavily based in print, but over the past six months the fortunes of two major players in Australasia’s newspaper industry have taken a turn for the worse. Both APN News & Media and Fairfax media have announced restructuring to accommodate a digital focused future.
Fairfax media, publisher of Stuff, Sunday Star Times and a raft of regional papers, announced a forty-one percent drop in first half profit and has already reduced staff by four percent. APN, publisher of the NZ Herald, posted a A$45.1 million annual net loss.
The declining profit of these key players could spell disaster for the newsroom. As jobs are cut there are fewer experienced journalists, leaving more work for those junior staff that remain yet ironically with less ability to go out and find stories. Journalists now need to have multi-disciplinary skills, having to both direct and edit stories.
As the shift is made towards online and away from the print medium, the role of PR must also be evaluated and extended. This is perhaps the beginning of profound changes to the PR industry, and practitioners will need to work hard to make sure they are up for the challenge.
PR must now evolve to meet these new demands. It is necessary for us to stay at the forefront of trends and maintain the strongest media relationships possible. We must also utilise social media and online communication in the most conceivable way. Social media allows direct access to the wider world, so as print becomes less relevant we can still maintain a close relationship with other important audiences.
Both consultancies and in-house communications teams need to adjust and adapt to the new social media environment. It is unrealistic to expect just one senior person to be able to deal with the complexity and pace of issues that are possible online. There needs to be a devolving of power so that a number of people have the autonomy to remedy the problems presented in online channels in a timely and efficient manner.
The fate of Fairfax and APN print publications are an example of a worldwide phenomenon. As developments in the digital age provide constant challenges, PR practitioners must be dynamic, flexible and ready for anything.
