The future of newspapers II: of shock-jocks and self-made media-stars

Who you looking at, pig-dog?

Now the vast range of media channels has been extended by the rise of the Internet. In the second part of our interview with Gavin O'Reilly, we continue our analysis of the future of the mainstream media. O'Reilly is the Group Chief Operating Officer of Independent News and Media, and President of the World Association of Newspapers, which is holding its annual congress in Cape Town from 3 - 6 June.

"It's not about the Internet or newspapers," says O'Reilly, "rather it is about complimentary media. The New York Times increased its audience by 12% after it created a website. The new media allows companies to reach new people through a variety of channels and then funnel them towards their printed content. The newspaper is becoming the ultimate browser, aggregating information that is just too vast for one person to comprehend."

Like the music industry, news has become about brand management; both of their banners and of the writers who become sub-brands within media companies and attract attention by virtue of controversy, talent and astonishing communication skills.

In the past media companies have been like venture capitalists: searching for people who appear to have talent and then investing in them over a period of time. That person may become outstandingly popular and lucrative for the media companies they work for.

An example, O'Reilly says, is Jeremy Clarkson, a motor-news specialist, who writes for the UK Sunday Times and The Sun, appears on the BBC show Top Gear, and produces his own blog. Another example is Robert Fisk, one of the Independent's journalists, whose controversial opinions and coverage of the conflict in the Middle East has turned him into a media celebrity.

These expensive personalities are being overshadowed by new upstarts from the Internet. More than 14 million online journals now compete for the hearts and minds of Internet junkies. Blogging superstars include Arianna Huffington of the left-wing political Huffington Post, Seth Godin who writes on modern marketing techniques, and Mark Frauenfelder of Boing Boing who collects odd stories.

These self-made celebrities offer a glimpse of the future of media.

Media companies still own something that, no matter what they say, cause all these bloggers to dribble with jealousy: international access to their channels in magazines, newspapers, radio and television and a share in the advertising revenue that goes with it. The Internet will only get you so far.

Future musicians, journalists, and expert analysts will have to earn their celebrity status by creating online followings and proven audiences. Media companies won't have to risk and invest in creating stars, they'll just offer contracts to the best and share in advertising revenue.

Those of you wondering why anyone would dedicate so much time and effort to writing outstanding copy for no money now know. Bloggers are just like those who invested in quirky dotcoms in the hopes of being bought out.

For as long as you are popular you can share in the fun. Like Don Imus, a US-based "shock jock" who recently got fired for going too far in casting racial epithets at his public, if you stuff up, you will be gone and replaced by the next self-made star.

For the general public this offers an ever more competitive and rising standard of talent and ability. Media companies now have an almost limitless ability to aggregate talent and reach a fragmented and widely distributed audience. Along the way they will find new methods of selling advertising.

But there will always be music, and there will always be news.