Economic Constraints, New Technologies Help Spur Shared News Content, Say PBS, Gannett
The availability of technology and fewer economic resources is behind the effort to form partnerships between news organizations and to share and streamline content across multiple platforms, media executives said. Finding resources and cutting costs while expanding quality content affects both public and commercial broadcasting, they said Tuesday during a Bisnow event in Washington.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
PBS can “bring in contributions to individuals across the country using the techniques we've used for years, but are also now opened up to us through the Web and other sources,” said President Paula Kerger. “For us, we're looking at technology as one opportunity to upgrade efficiently and staying very focused on putting the resources into the content, because that’s in fact what makes us differentiated.” PBS does this by “taking advantage of technology which does give us opportunities to produce content at a lower cost per hour and thinking about new ways to bring in revenue to our organization,” she said. For PBS Newshour, “the technology has meant an enormous change in how we reach our audience,” said Judy Woodruff, co-anchor. Its website has become an absolutely integral component, she said. There’s expanded content at www.pbs.org/newshour and more detail on the stories covered on the show, including interviews on stories that don’t make it on-air, Woodruff said.
For-profit media faces challenges similar to public broadcasting, said Gannett President Gracia Martore. “We too understand the cost pressures of being a public company … so we too have had to look at opportunities to use new technology.” The company’s TV stations share content, which allows the small stations to get the same quality as the larger ones, she said. “We're using technology to do a lot of things more smartly."
Sharing content and merging silos at different companies is a result of the changing marketplace, technology and the financial, operational and other pressures on media, executives said. “It’s cultural change, it’s business necessity, but it’s also really understanding that when you are one of many choices and not the only choice in the marketplace, you have to have better, compelling content,” Martore said. Media organizations have to be more streamlined and they must consider the audience, with news events becoming increasingly complex, Woodruff said. “The world has gotten harder to understand than it’s ever been, and at the same time those of us in the media have shrinking resources.” PBS works with other organizations, like Propublica, and Newshour works with NPR reporting teams, Kerger said. “Yes, we do have less resources,” she said. “But I think that what the current economic climate as well as current climate in media in general has allowed is very different ways of operating.”
Media consumption is at an all-time high, Martore said: When people watch TV, “about 70 or 80 percent of them are also using some other kind of device in the same room, whether they're on Facebook” or “tweeting.” This increases the level of TV viewership because it isn’t just a passive experience, she said. “It is becoming a more interactive social experience.”
Women can have even bigger roles in media, executives said. While more women are on-air, behind the scenes, producing shows and reporting, more are needed in management, Woodruff said. “If we're serious about seeing more women, about seeing more people of color in key roles and organizations, then you really have to put it front and center every single day,” Kerger said.