Convergence Journalism

Taking place in many levels

Convergence of media
Convergence of industries

What is it?
Convergence can be best described
as the fusion of all forms of media
And as it incorporates these various
forms, it thus becomes a medium in &
of itself

Convergence
We live in a world of communication
revolution
What is happening in this field has been
described as
All modes of communication we have devised
since the beginning of mankind are coming
together into a single electronic system driven by
computers

The process of convergence is taking place

with anytime-anywhere availability of voice,
data & video

What makes it possible

New digital communication technology
Digitalization & computerization have
facilitated the process of media
convergence
Computerized communication is part of
every mediums operation today

Therefore, the water tight

compartmentalization of various
media is a futile exercise
Digitalization opened new possibilities
for creation of services within &
beyond the framework of traditional
communication sectors

Digital communication has reduced

information into discrete, identifiable &
more easily transferable pieces of
information
It also efficiently maximizes the
transfer of information by allowing
more signals to move through a single
communication path

Network convergence utilizes this

attribute of digital communication to
efficiently & effectively distribute different
types of information-voice, data & video
on the same communication network
Media convergence is leading to the
death of time & space which is in a way
assisting the process of globalization by
making what is global as local & what is
local as global

Media convergence and

Global village

Todays world is aptly described as a

global village in which a web of
information networks interconnects
individuals in nearly instantaneous
global communication
Canadian Media Guru coined the
term global village in the year 1960

He proclaimed a sort of borderless

world in which communication media
would transcend the boundaries of
nation
Time has ceased, space vanished; it
is a world of simultaneous
happening of all at oneness

He correctly saw different media

working together or converging to
form a global village
In the global village information &
experiences are freely available for all
to share

Global village is a world interconnected

by internet, world wide web & new
communication media which is creating
a more or less uniform global culture
characterized Americanization &
westernization

The advent of satellite channels,

global news networks & Internet
brought drastic changes in the media
environment from 1990 onwards
The definition of news changed from
something that has happened to
something that is happening at the
very moment you are hearing or
watching it

Result of media convergence

Push & Pull media are controlling the media
direction as the importance of word is declining
Broadcast TV is the push medium wherein a
select band of producers decide what content is
to be created, create it & push it down to the
audience
The web is a pull medium as nothing comes to
an audience unless he/she choose it & click on
to it to pull it down on the computer

The era of passivity is over, while

interactivity takes the norm
Interactivity did not begin with the
Internet rather began with the advent of
remote control when the audience was
sitting in the drivers seat as coproducers
Instead of an entire program viewing,
viewers saw content in 3-5 mnt segment

Interactivity takes a different for

today, interactive TV, radio
Buy products while watching it on TV,
or the likes
Participate in program content

The growth of global media

On the other side

In 1990 media started to operate

across national borders & have a
greater impact on national cultural
systems
Mergers & acquisition took place
among the global media giants
It is a battle of size

Attaining a giant size is only one part

of the story
After relegated to a certain size, the
corporate strategy shifts to ways of
making it more self sufficient, through
various internally promoted cross
promotions or through what is known
as synergy

CNN-AOL, Time Warner-Turner,

Disney-ABC, Bertelsman-Random
House, American Online-Netscape
etc
Cross promotion of various media
brands through synergy was the basic
business strategy behind all mergers

Disney brought ABC for broadcasting

its movies & cartoons
Time Warner purchased Turner
Broadcasting for cross promoting its
magazines & films on CNN
Time Warner & American Online have
merged for promoting the products of
CNN through Internet

The attitude of media industries changed

They were no longer interested in being
the biggest or most successful
They had to be more to build their
potential empires across sectors

Four major types of ownership was found to

develop

Chain
Vertical
Cross media
Conglomerate

Vertical
A corporation owning
& operating a large
city daily may also
own & operate other
media, news &
advertising
syndicates, a paper
mill & a
transportation system
etc.

These allied
institutions
contribute to the
success of the
newspaper
It indicates that a
media company
monopolizes the
production of the
ingredients that go
into the making of
the media products

Chain
When more than one newspaper
published by the same establishment
from more than one centre.
The same media company owning
numerous outlets in a single medium
Ex: Chain of newspapers, a series of
radio stations etc

Cross media ownership

When the same company owns
several media outlets
Ex: radio & TV stations along with
newspapers, magazine, music,
dotcom etc
Rupert Murdoch News Corporation ltd

Conglomerate ownership
Several business one of which is
media business

The result
Deregulation
Most of the owners of media are
owners of non-media products as well
Disney have significant business
interests in the running of 30 other
non-media concerns including Boying
& Yahoo

The Directors of New York Times have

active business relationships with 19
business concerns including Ford
Motor Company, Johnson & Johnson
Pepsi Co.
The result is that the media
corporations are often forced to
protect the business interests of transnational, thereby pushing the interest
of the audience to the background

More powerful & wealthy the media

giants are, poorer is the prospect of
plurality & democracy
In an ad based, profit driven commercial
media, public space for information
exchange & discussions, that are so
essential for democratic processes &
freedom of expressions is fast shrinking
leading to weakening of public
broadcasting system

The rapid changes in the global media

systems has resulted in the formation of
advertising based media
3/4th of global ad spent is by 20 large
TNC
In case of print media 80% revenue
comes from ads, so much so that even
editorial space is compromised

Advertising & product variation became

primary competitive weapons of
corporations in place of cut throat price
competition to protect & expand their
market shares
As advertisers are the ultimate content
funders, the most important transaction
in the media market place does not
involve media corporations selling
content to audiences but selling
audience to sponsors

Thank you