Dubai: The latest bout of US economic angst, the recent UK riots and the final countdown in Libya have all hit newspaper headlines across the globe. But for a brief two-week stretch that began in mid-July, it was actually one newspaper that made news all over the world, albeit for the wrong reasons.
The News of the World phone-hacking fiasco leading up to its unlamented closure is too recent to bear repetition. But what it highlighted was the state of the world's newspaper industry, beset by declining subscriptions, lacklustre advertising support, and the sheer explosion in competing media vying for an user's attention. Add to that the cost- and staff-cutting pressures that have been rather acutely experienced in many newspaper organisations.
These are then interesting times for anyone to take over as president of WAN-IFRA, the global entity representing more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online versions and 3,000 plus companies. (The World Association of Newspapers was founded in 1948 and in 2009 merged with IFRA, the research and service arm of the newspaper publishing industry. It operates from bases in Paris and Darmstadt in Germany.)
Jacob Mathew formally assumed the new role in July after coming through as the unanimous choice at the recent WAN-IFRA annual general meeting in Dublin. Incidentally, he is the first Indian to take over as president of the grouping.
Mathew may be uniquely qualified to inject a sense of optimism and purpose to the newspaper industry. He is executive editor at the Malayala Manorma Group, whose flagship is the largest circulated newspaper in India with a circulation base of 1.8 million and a readership of 16 million. What's more, the numbers are still growing.
In one of his first interviews since taking on the stewardship of WAN-IFRA, Mathew outlines the concerns and the solutions the newspaper industry will have to deal with.
Gulf News: The WAN-IFRA tenure obviously comes at a time when the print media is facing its stiffest challenges. How would you assess its state?
Jacob Mathew: The print media is going through very hard times in certain continents and doing reasonably well in others. I do not think there is any one clear reason.
Japan and [South] Korea with heavy internet usage do not see the same attrition levels as in the US print media. Scandinavia has the most internet-savvy population and there too the decline is not as pronounced.
In South Africa, China, Brazil and India, circulation is increasing.
The print media in many countries made huge investments. It increased their financial stress.
In some countries, core group of print readers went down and advertising revenues declined. In such situations, the challenge is to keep the costs down.
Many now share common facilities in the area of production. [But] distribution costs remain a major challenge when compared to the paperless media.
A new generation is coming along whose sole interaction with news is through the online media. Is there any way print can be made relevant to them?
Print is well-equipped because newspapers are creating quality content. For print, it is important to understand the new generation and then tailor multimedia content for the internet generation.
It will take time — but the fundamentals of newspaper journalism are strong and this will be useful for the internet. The media that successfully engages the reader will score better.
Print provided the first free online content and still continues to do so. If the print media companies could work together to prevent the exploitation of this content, they could monetise this. Today a media company has to provide content in every possible deliverable option whether it is print, online, TV, radio or mobile. Other than going green by saving trees, future devices like flexible displays with a very paper like look and feel would reduce newsprint and consumable costs, production costs [printing-related] and distribution costs.
That print media is losing subscribers is the new reality. Will it severely cramp journalistic resources in chasing news?
Newspapers need good stories and for this the organisation has to be healthy. It is important for the industry to transition and look at revenue models to stay healthy.
Multi-skilling of knowledge managers for multiple media could be one of the areas where one could minimise costs. Of course, there will be pressure on the newsroom when revenues are down.
But it is important to maintain quality journalism. Obviously less print subscribers mean less advertising and less subscription revenues which could cramp journalists' resources.
However, if the same editorial resources are used to produce content across multiple media streams, this could itself help create more revenue.
There is increasing consolidation of various media under a single ownership. Is that necessarily a good thing?
In India so far, no one group has such power. Media consolidation is definitely not good for any nation. However, as a business strategy, to get a decent share of the fragmented advertising pie, publishers need to have an effective presence in all media. Early start has an advantage, I feel.
There's a sentiment online versions will at some point provide major revenues for newspapers. Do you feel its some way off?
Yes, it is some way off in India. First they have to charge for online content. This must become a reality for all media companies [and] publishers need to co-operate amongst themselves. There is a cost for content and just advertising will not be able to support it. Second, there is an opportunity for the internet to offer more to the advertiser and not just a display advertisement. Once visitors increase, then advertising rates will go up.
In the Middle East, online platforms seem to have led the way in leading change. Are newspapers losing out in chronicling change?
No, it is not so. Recent events across the world have shown that traditional investigative journalism has been instrumental in major newsbreaks. The print still plays a major role in the busy media matrix.
The mass movements recently in some of the Middle East countries prove that freedom of expression can take a new route if there are restrictions in the traditional media.
Governments still clamp restrictions on the various media. Are you starting to see more of it around?
Governments across the world must protect a free press. This is important for all nations. However, the credibility of the media is under public scrutiny, especially after the recent events in the UK. One should not cross the ethical line. It calls for self-correction and introspection in the media industry. The important point here is that increased government regulation is not the answer.
The internet allows a way to bypass governmental controls and technology has been developed to use suitcase-sized portable gizmos to provide local access when the main internet links are down. This is similar to printed wall posters put up in the dead of night in the past when newspapers were shackled.
Restoring confidence
In the wake of the hacking scandal that eventually overwhelmed the News of the World, there were repeated calls from the UK's political class to bring in increased scrutiny of the media. For Jacob Mathew, president of WAN-IFRA, such a response strikes a jarring note. But he adds that a revised code of ethics devised by the industry may not provide the correction on its own.
"The credibility of the news media came under great public scrutiny," said Mathew. "More than the code of ethics, it calls for a self correction and assessment within the media industry. Nothing should lead to increased government regulations. That will not be a solution or an answer. Introduction of any restriction can have an impact on the freedom of the media. There are many self-regulatory bodies that are already in place. The fact to remember here is, it was newspapers themselves, while doing a free job, that discovered this unfortunate scandal."
