Can the dinosaurs of T&T media accept change?

November 16, 2009 by Edmund Gall

Ms Kiran Maharaj, President of the T&T Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA) issued a call to T&T’s media professionals to unite to guarantee the industry’s survival in the face of advancing technology (e.g. social media).  This was made during her feature address at the TTPBA’s 6^th Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony for Media Excellence (see story “Unity the key to survival” by Sean Nero, Trinidad Guardian, 16 Nov 2009).

Good on Ms Maharaj to raise the issue at this forum.  From what I've heard, most of the existing media leadership have no clue what social media is and how significant an impact it will have on their businesses.  Or how to make effective use of new technology at all.

The most interesting discussion would probably be on the topic of copyright.  In the online world, Creative Commons licensing is preferred, as the intention is to share and grow knowledge; in the offline world of traditional media, more restrictive licensing is preferred, as the intention is to sell information to grow income.  It will conflict - the US music industry's RIAA is an example of how to mess up your approach to new technology (search Google for thousands of articles on this, such as this EFF report).  If they intend to maintain shareholder value, TTPBA members may wish to start chatting with knowledgeable reps from the local advertising industry and perhaps the TTCS to understand their options.  And try to survey young people in T&T, nuh - if you're intending to sell papers beyond 2020, find out what teens think about that model of distribution.

Good luck to the T&T media.  I'm willing to accept improvements on their Internet interfaces and better integration/accommodation of Internet audiences on traditional media programmes, like talk shows or interactive polls, as first steps.

TTPBA members also need to examine how they use technology in other areas of their business.  Do they realise that they have an important role in building and maintaining T&T's historical archives?  I echo media awardee Allyson Hennessy's call for media houses to build an archive of old interviews/shows of historical value.  I'm already concerned that the leading T&T newspaper dailies are removing old articles - visit each of them and see how far back you can go in their archives (or how easy it is to search their archives).  All I'm asking is that they treat T&T content with more value and respect than that Gremlins tape they like to show every Christmas on local TV.

It's way past the time that those T&T radio/TV stations that continue to charge for their online streaming realise they're not worth it – there are too many great and free stations available in the global village for sensible Internet users to pay for poor programming.  And since young people, who form the bulk of the future market for information, don’t wish to pay for anything, these stations are amongst the first dinosaurs in line for extinction.

PS: While searching for the above links, I came across this posting by Jeremiah Owyang on companies that faced embarrassing marketing experiences because of social media.  In a useful chronological order. I think ALL of T&T's business community need to understand the potential power of social media.

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