What’s to become of mainstream media?

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been discussing Malaysians’ fascination with social media in this column.

Those of us in the public relations (PR) industry (agency and in-house practitioners) have known for quite some time that as social and digital media increasingly gain popularity, the Malaysian mainstream media (MSM) has been suffering from a decline in advertising revenue.

As a result, media houses have implemented several measures such as making the jump to digital themselves, reducing headcount (including experienced and long-serving journalists), and increasingly turning to branded content to cover the shortfall, in an attempt to stay profitable, or to merely stay afloat.

The Oxford Dictionary defines mainstream media as “traditional or established broadcasting or publishing outlets”. MSM plays a critical role, not only in democracy and politics, but also in social development; in educating society’s citizens about new concepts when those concepts are difficult for the average man-on-the-street to understand.

Abiding by a code of ethics, MSM are bearers of news and information. They serve as a filter to the public, playing the role of gatekeeper, fact-checker and they generally ensure that all sides to a story are presented to readers (without bias or prejudice) and leave readers / the public to make up their own mind. Facilitating the open exchange of opinions, MSM gives readers confidence that the news has been verified and so is true. This is all part of MSM’s journalistic integrity.

Recently, Communications Minister, Fahmi Fadzil, revealed that social media platforms have captured more than 50 per cent (RM2.5 billion) of the total estimated advertising expenditure in Malaysia (RM4.5 billion), drastically eating into the revenue of traditional news media companies. Finally, there’s confirmation of our suspicion.

“So what? Does this shift affect me?” you may ask. “Is it important?” The answer is, “Yes, most definitely!” If you are a PR practitioner, either agency or in-house, a member of the business community or even a non-governmental organisation, it’s affecting us in these ways:

1. Reduced media attendance at events.

2. Less and less interest in editorial content (earned media) and increased requests for branded content (paid media) and branded content packages which include social media postings.

3. PR agencies’ evolution into content creators, curating content that can be used across multiple platforms / mediums. (This is actually a good thing).

4. For the average man-on-the-street, you are now consuming more branded content, which is essentially paid media, and this means that claims made are purely one-sided, and all in favour of the organisation that paid for the article placement. So, this begs the question: how credible or accurate are the branded content articles you’re reading?

MSM plays a critical role, not only in democracy and politics, but also in social development; in educating society’s citizens about new concepts when those concepts are difficult for the average man-on-the-street to understand.

I once interviewed a fresh communications graduate who admitted that she didn’t read news (in mainstream media). This is scary. How will our young people be able to keep up in this highly competitive world if they have limited or no knowledge of world, and current events?

For example, gamers who only visit sites related to gaming and e-sports; or a fashionista who only consumes news and updates about fashion and celebrities, but is oblivious to the issues going on around them in the country or in the world; issues like poverty, climate change, food insecurity, children’s rights, and gender equality.

We all witnessed the confusion and panic caused by fake news during the Covid-19 pandemic. And what did we do then? We fact-checked with MSM because we knew MSM could be trusted to provide accurate and truthful information.

In my opinion, it’s in everyone’s best interests to support MSM and ensure their business model remains viable and profitable. Mainstream media plays a critical role in educating, nation-building, and the economy.

Without traditional news media, nations, economies, society and civilisation, may very well spiral into chaos.