CorpComms Magazine

As the Times and Sunday Times publish their audience figures from behind the Paywall, more than half of journalists fear their traditional media outlets may be taken off the market, reveals a new survey.

The rise of blogs, social forums and user generated content is gradually eroding journalists' traditional sources of income. In 2010, more than a quarter of journalists recorded a loss of readers, viewers or listeners of traditional media of up to ten per cent, while 15 per cent identified a still greater drop in audience numbers. Advertising has suffered an even more marked decline, with more than half of journalists losing more than ten per cent of their income from this source, according to the Digital Journalism Study 2010 by digital PR agency Brands2Life. 

The restructuring of media online is being felt keenly by the journalistic old guard. This year, more than half of journalists anticipate that their own print publication, radio or television channel might be taken off the market. And for many of the rest, the predicted future scenario has already happened. One in seven say their traditional media output has been shifted wholesale online since the economic crisis and structural changes to the media landscape, and 18 per cent have had their traditional media outlets dissolved. 

Prognoses for the traditional industry are less gloomy than last year. Forty four per cent of journalists believe that the number of printed media must shrink dramatically, though this figure is down from 60 per cent in 2009. Many journalists fear that online media are neither economically nor, as a consequence, qualitatively viable alternatives, though once again journalists' predictions are less bleak than last year. Two in five journalists feel online media are still far from profitable (down from 53 per cent in 2009) and roughly the same number fear a cumulative dearth of editorial resources in this sphere will erode the quality of journalism online, a drop of 11 percentage points in the number of journalists who felt so last year. 

The traditional opinion pundits seem less confident in their brands' pulling power this year, with just 29 per cent anticipating audiences will continue to seek out trusted publications and editors when they make their way online, compared to 42 per cent in 2009.

Whatever their future concerns, on balance journalists seem to thing the structural changes have either improved or had no effect on the quality of their organisation's journalism over the last two years. While just one in ten thinks it has got much better, 35 per cent feel it has improved. Just 18 per cent and three per cent think it has got worse and much worse respectively. A third says it has remained much the same. 

For those who remain, job satisfaction may also have also improved. Another one in ten says they enjoy the job much more and a quarter admits to preferring it now. Just 13 per cent say they enjoy it less, though three per cent have seemingly lost all interest. Half sees little change either way.  

PR practitioners still have room for manoeuvre, with a third of journalists anticipating a rise in dependance on this discipline, but this phenomenon is also less pronounced than last year when more than two in five journalists felt the same.  

Three quarters of journalists find the old reliable PR press release useful and a third would explore a link to a microsite with more information about a story; more than half appreciate accompanying images such as photographs; and a quarter find a use for video content. Less than one in twelve would be prepared for a hard-copy press release.

UK media are increasingly availing themselves of all the digital mod cons with 27 per cent now boasting an app.

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