First Words

I shall make no apology for the publication of a new blog. I am under the impression that such a site is wanted and needed. If I should be so fortunate as to command a remunerative circulation, the result will justify my opinion.

In the first edition of The Press on May 25, 1861, the writer, most likely editor George Sale, wrote of the “three principal uses in a public newspaper”, the first being for advertising. The second, Mr Sale said, “a more noble task than the first”, was to “convey to every individual a history of what is going on in the world around him”.

Those first words in The Press also spoke of how “the press constitutes a powerful and important part of the government of a country” and that “the public press, in its tone and character, its taste and its ability, is a test and pulse of the condition of a people, intellectually, morally, and socially”.

How do Mr Sale’s principles of 168 years ago measure today?

Firstly, “the press” has changed. Now, “the media” includes radio and television, as well as film and audio, and now the media is digital, it is social media, and it is a wide, open landscape where audiences aren’t stuck with limited choices (although this only applies to content, as the choice between platforms is even more limiting than the old giant national and metropolitan dailies and weeklies, and on a nearly global scale).

Importantly, the use of the press for advertising is a vexed point today. Digital advertising promises low cost, high viewership rates, and audience- and customer-specific targeting. There is, today, almost no need to advertise in a newspaper. There is almost no need to advertise on TV. Radio will continue to outperform other media so long as people continue to drive with radios in their cars.

And even online, those advertising rates and advertising revenues are lower than what could be commanded on a piece of newsprint or in a 30-second advert. It doesn’t matter for platforms that can find money by selling their users’ data and information. However, it is evident that the business of traditional media is dried up.

Perhaps a divorce of news journalism and advertising is good. There are some who would argue it is, and others would disagree. There is always some conflict of interest between the income from advertisers, the editorial decisions of media, and the advertisers’ disapproval of those decisions and threats to withdraw contracts.