
The business of news houses is selling news! And what is news? Perhaps some new story, maybe a new happening! News must be new to the audience to be regarded as news! So the news houses were positioned to follow events and happenings and then write a story to alert the public about it, of course before the public hear about it from somewhere!” Would you buy last week’s newspaper and expect to find news! There will be nothing new!
Okay, the newspaper will simply hardly carry any news! There
will come a time, it is coming, it has come; when you buy a newspaper only to
find very little news in it. You already know of most of the happenings they
are narrating! Then you need it less and less! You will visit your favourite online
newspaper and you find there’s nothing new!
We needed the news houses because we had no access to news,
we were landlocked and separated from places and events! Technology has since
bridged and is closing this gap! How many times have you seen a story in the
newspaper and you have already heard of it. Now with technology news is
spreading so fast, very fast that the moment a newspaper needs to write about
it, edit, distribute and sell, it’s already in the hands of the public. Did you
hear of the Budiriro witches story first with the newspaper or through hearsay
and social networks like facebook? I have realised of late that I hear of the
news first through social networks like facebook and twitter as well as news blogs
before the formal news house publishes it!
Exactly the point! Social networks and especially mobile
proliferation contribute much to the rapid spread of news to the public before
the news houses publish it. What then? We continue to need the news houses less
and less! We continue to lose interest slowly but surely!
News houses also have a challenge of the threat of new
entrants in the industry. Starting an
online newspaper is now as easy as starting a vegetable garden at your back
yard! More and more news blogs are sprouting on the web everyday whilst the number
of readers remains fairly constant. The blogger has very limited expenses- a
small staff compliment and a small salary bill. Our formal news house has huge
expenses! As a result there will be a continued drop in readership as news
websites increase to compete with the conventional news houses and share visitors.
This will also mean a share of advertising revenue!
Leaders rise and fall! The sun rises and sets! Trees grow
and die! Flowers blossom and fade! Some Industries rise, blossom, fade and die! Ask the photographer what happened to
his business! Now you take photos from your phone! In the end it looks like,
the world will be a news house on its own, every country a branch of the news
house, every city an office of the news house and every individual a journalist!
We all like to hear good news, but I call it good news to be warned of a flood!
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