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AUDIENCE. Listener. Viewer.
These are terms describing media clients. But these suggests only an
aspect of mass communication media. Today we speak of
“providers” of media services. And this suggests the more
current term of media clients: they all receive media and are
therefore recipients.
A major manufacturer of newspaper printing
equipment, has adopted the motto: “We are print!” Thus,
manroland, is not ready to surrender the field to other media
providers. Talking about media service recipients in the
industrialized countries, Ingo Woelk, the manroland media analyst
says in Messenger, the company’s newspaper:
“Recipients reject some topics, coldly
ignoring them while developing their own contents. Established media
forms were surprised by the emergence of independent cultures such
as blog democracy. People are more involved in the selection of
topics thus shaping new opinions. On the other hand average citizens
in industrialized countries are less likely to attend mass rallies
on the streets. They do not bother painting slogans on bulletin
boards, but rather express their attitude art virtual demonstrations
on the internet. This type of commitment is clearly present on the
web. Yet are the recipients really empowered as they let on? Or does
this just reflect the commitment of a specific social class? It is
certainly the case that media education could not keep up with media
changes. This has resulted in recipients who can use the media but
are not aware of the consequences of its use.
“Given the amount of time an individual spends
involved with media on a daily basis, there should be training
programs. Just as children learn to read and write, citizens should
be taught to look at media discerningly and utilize it in a
beneficial manner. Newspaper publishers have also recognized this
need, as it also involves introducing young children to the
newspaper as a medium. Many newspapers feature children’s pages
(the Philippine Daily Inquirer, as an example, has a children’s
reading program and special children’s features—BGD) and
supplements, and the World Association of Newspapers gives an award
for the ‘best newspaper for young readers.’ Publishing company
suppliers like manroland supports initiatives such as ‘Lesestart,’
which already aims to interest toddlers in reading by means of
nationwide book distribution across Germany. This is an important
step towards conveying a balanced understanding of media to young
children.
“Media interactivity is a phenomenon of this
day and age that printed newspapers cannot pursue—but they pursue
it nevertheless and contribute to shaping it as products of
publishing houses that have long since diversified their range of
offers. In addition to sales branches such as publication of DVD
editions, online newspaper and magazine news portals have become and
important source of income for publishing houses. Many of these
homepages represent the most popular and most frequently
accessed—and thus the most valuable—in the country.
“They throw ideas to the general public and
readers can realize their desire to express themselves in different
forums, As a result publishers can also serve the splintering target
groups. From an economic perspective, media institutions can thus
regain lost advertising potentials from the print sector through
online offers.”
New Formats
Costs have made many newspapers reformat to save
on paper, among others. New formats have signaled modernization, not
only in design but also in contents. If Philippine newspapers have
not been too radical in changing their formats it is because they
are stuck with their present presses, which limit them to a certain
size. These presses were designed for the old and bigger-sized
newspapers and they do not have much flexibility in changing their
sizes.
Woelk says in the manroland Messenger that
“the change to the tabloid or Berlin format has immediate
ramifications on the business model of the publishing or printing
company. However, one thing is for certain: a format change alone
does not automatically guarantee increased circulation numbers and
advertising revenue. The format change must be substantially
accompanied by a number of supporting measures.
“Advertising customers must be convinced by
the new format, an intense readership must provide a strong
newspaper reader-newspaper and a consistent pricing policy towards
advertising customers and partners, combined with noticeable
newsprint paper quality improvement secures existing customer
relationships and creates new ones. manroland’s customer, The
Guardian provides an example of a successful format conversion: the
prestigious British newspaper has been published in full color in
the attractive Berlin format for the past two and a half years.
Advertising customers and readers were as delighted with the new
format as the jury of the Webby Awards. This award, one of the most
coveted for websites, was presented to the Guardian Unlimited in
2006.
opinion@manilatimes.net
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