Don't give up on the media just yet

There is more contemplating of the future of journalism today both in the dead tree business and the super information highway.

Tim Bradshaw,the FT's digital correspondent reports that

A slowdown in online advertising, for years the fastest-growing part of traditional media businesses, is forcing newspaper and magazine owners to experiment with ways to shore up website revenues

But there are some encoraging signs for those that want to innovate to survive

Many are diversifying out of advertising into revenue-sharing partnerships with e-commerce sites, such as travel or dating. But some are also experimenting with techniques and technologies, with increased targeting of advertising to readers widely seen as the best way to raise yields.

The Guardian has recognised the potential of this in their targeting of foreign nationals who log onto its website.

Now he reports

the Independent, The Telegraph, Johnston Press and Bauer UK (which owns consumer magazines such as FHM and Empire) have all enlisted a small company called Adgent 007, which has sales teams in the US, Europe and Asia to explain the advantages of a UK title or site to advertisers and media buyers. Through these local relationships, Adgent claims to improve rates by 10-20 times.

Meanwhile Rachael Gallagher at Press Gazette reports that

The death of traditional media has been exaggerated, according to global leader for entertainment and media practice at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong.
Speaking at the World Association of Newspapers readership conference, Marcel Fenez said that although digital advertising will continue to soar over the next five years it will still only globally represent 10 per cent of total advertising for newspapers by 2012.

Ian Burrel in the Indy looks at another economic model

Having run the London bureau of Newsweek magazine for 12 years, McGuire rejects the apparent consensus among modern news organisations that the public has lost its appetite for in-depth journalism. So while the rest of the world speeds up towards immediate online publication, Stryker wants to slow down the pace and publish every three months, in print. While others offer bite-sized news, he wants 6,000-word articles.

McGuire plans to launch a journal which will

cost £8 per issue and pays writers the (quite unheard of) rate of £1.50 a word. "

This is the argument that has yet to be proved.Are the public willing to pay a premium for quality journalism?