Photo credit: Krista76 from Flickr
So, I finally got around to another Third Wednesday meetup after months of being in hiding hibernation. The turnout was excellent at the Foggy Goggle with a number of faces I hadn’t seen before and a number of familiar ones. After a bit of mingling, @joelkelly got up on stage and started an interesting group discussion about the future of media as we know it.
Quite honestly, the timing could not have been better as it came on the heels of an article that I had read just a few short hours earlier about budget cuts facing the CBC. It may seem scary for anyone who works for (*ahem*) or holds dear the CBC.
But when we look back in history, the BBC was facing similar dire times in the 1980s. The Thatcher government stopped short of privatizing or including advertising as part of that corporation’s business model. They came out to be a stronger broadcaster in the end.
No, money isn’t the only solution to the problem. But any company that suddenly loses a major revenue stream has to ask itself some tough questions about how to weather the storm. Realistically, the dollar amount that the government could have included in the budget isn’t much out of the pockets of Canadians. According to this article, the CBC currently gets about $33 from each Canadian taxpayer, compared to $124 in the U.K. and $77 in France for public broadcasting.
The cuts are inevitable now, but the question is where will they come from?
And that question opens up a whole other door. Will this further the divide between “new” and “old” media or have we moved past that already? Do we still even need a national broadcaster to tell our stories? Or is that outdated/unnecessary? If so, what is the role of a national broadcaster? This article in the National Post argues that gone are the days of needing to tell “Canadian stories”.
Finally, what new models can we look toward and build? Time magazine recently launched MINE magazine in the States, a way of personalizing your online magazine content. Then, there’s The Printed Blog, a self-explanatory project. Things are shifting and maybe it’s a moving target but this is as good a time as any to re-evaluate the role of our public broadcaster and the way that news and our stories are told in general in this country.
So, I’d like to continue the discussion here. What are your thoughts? How do we pave the path to a future where the message isn’t lost in the media?
[P.S. @myogis and I (@aliasgrace) announced a Twitter contest at yesterday's tweetup. If you're interested in geo-caching and photography we think you'll like this idea. Personally, I've never done geocaching but I've been interested in checking it out and with the winter thaw finally coming, what better time to start, right? Details coming soon. Follow us on Twitter, here, or on the Halifax Tweetup Wiki for more.]
Kimberly Walsh is a social media and online community manager. You can follow her on Twitter @AliasGrace.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I heard that the cuts are happening this wednesday. Two figures popped up: 1800 or 600 – jobs. Who knows. Either way, gasp!
The BBC has had many cuts but they’ve used the private production model and made some fantastic stuff.
This may the the best route for cut CBC employees. Like O’Reily on Advertising.
Gifted: It’s all speculation at the moment with regards to the cuts. But I think the BBC has provided a good model to look at in terms of what a public broadcaster can do even in times of belt-tightening.
Just saw on twitter. Really crossing my fingers for you and your colleagues. Being radio, you’re probably better off, no?
Gifted: I think the coming days, weeks, and months will tell. Hard times ahead, that’s for sure and I wouldn’t want to be the one making these tough decisions. Being in “new media” may be what helps me in the end *fingers crossed*. Would hate to lose a job that I adore.
You are very wise to keep up on the new media side. The next big media trend will be further integration of new with old so that there will just be one, sort of… You know both sides well, so you’ll be primed for it…
Funny, I thought you were the Kim assignment editor, but I gather not.
At any rate, fingers and toes crossed. it would be their and our great loss to lose someone as smart and on the ball as you. Sounds like they’re keeping up the web side of things… thats good news.
Gifted: I was fortunate enough to grow up as a bit of a computer geek before it was en vogue. My father used to build computers from scratch and I’d code my own text adventure games. Who knew it would come in handy twenty years later? Whatever happens, at least I’ve got some transferable skills to go along with my PR degree..!