New media broadens horizon, but with riders
Editor’s Note:
Traditional media worldwide is facing challenges and competition from within the industry itself and the social media segment. Is TV the best form of communication? How can new technology play a positive role in media development? The Global Times collected opinions of five experts at the Second CGTN Global Media Summit and the Eighth Video Media Forum organized under the theme “Opening and Connecting the World” last week in Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality.
Jiang Heping, Controller, CGTN
Media should be true to its nature and stay focused. In CGTN’s approach to value-added communication, we try to achieve the six redefinitions. Redefine TV to be a video media, which is and will be the highest form of communication; redefine content so that it is differentiated, movable and socialized; redefine technology from information integration and sharing to interaction. There is no gap between traditional media and new media so long as we can use new technologies flexibly. Redefine target audience, super desk and the field of public opinion.
Vipp Jaswal, Head of International Affairs, Fox News Channel
Even in the ever-changing era of media, content is always the king and engagement is the queen, information is no longer a privilege of certain institutions. People with smart phones can share information and do news reporting on different platforms with huge impact. It’s a dilemma of the media – the pursuit of success or excellence. Working with market forces is both a challenge and opportunity for media professionals. Artificial intelligence (AI) should also be used well to better understand our consumers and find out what they want from us, when and where and how long they will be with us. But it’s a double-edge sword as it poses threat to our privacy. The most reliable resource in society now is not oil, but data, personal experience, relevant work experience and AI. Data on customers determines your success.
Alexey Nikolov, Managing Editor, Russia Today
The relationship between We media and traditional media is neither cooperative nor competitive as they are not playing with fair rules. Traditional media has established some regulations and defined responsibility. Let us say we have delivered milk every morning to customers. Then We media jumped in and said they can also deliver food, but faster. They didn’t send milk, but chewing gum and junk food. It isn’t cooperation or competition.
Brian Suh, Director of Partnership, Greater China and Korea, YouTube
1.9 billion people use YouTube every month. More than 1 billion videos are watched everyday. 500 videos are uploaded every minute on YouTube. YouTube achieved true localization across eight different languages. How can YouTube help Chinese content producers export Chinese culture globally while building up a business? Ms Yeah (a Chinese YouTube channel featuring cooking with office utensils) is a good example. She is the first creator from China to break a 1 million subscriber record. Ms Yeah has a total of 3.7 million subscribers in less than 24 months.
Anyone can create content, but with unlimited competition online only highly engaging content can survive. Anyone can reach their audience directly so as to make local voices reach global audience with the help of technology. New revenue opportunities can be seized by catering to audience’s choice in various overseas markets with highly engaging content.
Joshua Benton, Founder and Director, Nieman Journalism Lab
To be alive in 2018 is to be hacked. We see large number of Facebook or Google users’ data breached and leaked. Through Facebook, people know who you know, where you’ve lived, what content you like and what you buy, where you shop and what websites you visit. Through Google, hackers get what you search for, who and what you email, and what you chat about videos you watch. A tempting target is immediate profit, for identity theft or targeted messaging. Publishers and users might be getting smarter about how to use social media. The most important privacy settings are not in an app – they are in
your head.