The Great Digital Disconnect

Old media formats usually don’t connect with the new American mainstream.  TV news,  radio and newspapers as we know them with a few exceptions,   are aging out and declining at a time they’re most needed.  New technology platforms are a big part of the issue of course but so is the programming.  There’s a myth that migrating to digital is a savior.  Its a fact of life,  but only if the programming is also evolved to reflect the new era and excitement of the digital universe will the digital opportunity be fulfilled.  

TV NEWS—- the presentation, story selection and overall style is rooted in a decades old M.O.  Tweaking the old model isn’t going to suddenly reverse the trend. And the traditional sources are presentationally poles away from the needs and desires of the new mainstream and migrating the same playbook to digital won’t cut it. It’s not about journalism or music, it’s about connecting people to journalism and music…Something unappealing in analog remains unappealing in digital. 

FM/AM RADIO—-probably most affected by tech.  But Endless commercials,  programming architecture designed in the 80’s and the wealth of music streaming and podcast options add to radios decreased relevance  under 50.  Radio is no longer the American soundtrack. Self inflicted trend  to a degree.  With AI emerging,  radio will likely become more soulless than it is now.

NEWSPAPERS——NYT, Wall Street Journal and a few others are deep with solid journalism. Not the case with the

majority of papers who suffer from similar issues as radio in terms of technology and scaling down for survival at the expense of the rich information they were once known for.  

In the evolution to digital,  it’s an excellent opportunity for tired traditional  programming to:

BLOW UP DATED PLAYBOOKS AND CREATING DRAMATICALLY NEW FORMATS IN SYNC WITH 2023.  INVENT WHATS NEXT…NOW —TO ENGAGE MODERN AMERICA

The old way is in decline and caution is necessary especially leaders in their categories.  But it’s real.  It’s a slow drip,  but a week doesn’t pass when there isn’t another observation illustrating the reality,  the cliches and the failure of many media brands to connect with the new mainstream of thinking.  Analog or Digital. 

Pride, arrogance, fear, denial and bureaucracy are the cornerstones in failure to evolve,  or simply tweaking.  It needs to shock.  Shockingly good and new. To blast through the boundaries of ordinary…in combination with aggressively moving the new ideas to digital platforms there are brand renaissances  possible… or a slow but certain decline in harmony with the growing distance between corporate reality and street reality.   

Seek answers rather than continuation of decline by “hoping” it’ll be fixed by tweaks that aren’t noticed outside of the building.  The ideas are there but we have to look and listen outside comfort zones to engage with them.   There’s a world of ideas from outside the zone.