The Intersection asked newspaper veteran Steve Duke, Sector Head, Newspaper, and former television reporter Ava Greenwell, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Curriculum, to weigh in on how print, broadcast and Web compete for readers.

Intersection Question(IQ): Media and marketing has become increasingly video and multi-media driven. When would printed material be the most desired platform to deliver information to engage audiences?

Duke:
Nobody says to themselves, "I need a refrigerator. I think I'll flip on the TV and see what sales there are this week." Print delivers those customers into the store in a way TV doesn't. TV and radio are used to create a brand identity. Newspapers are used to drive feet into stores to buy specific products. The other advantages are more feet on the street, so more subjects are covered in greater depth than in broadcast or on the Internet.

Greenwell:
A print ad can have the effect of making you want something you didn't know you wanted. The difference today is if I want a washer and dryer, or a refrigerator, I'm not going to look at a print ad. I'm going to go online to see who has the sales, or an independent source that will tell me what's the best brand. I think the web is an ideal place for sophisticated customers to go who already know what they want to purchase. They're not going to go to a print ad.

IQ: Will there be more fusion of rational and emotional elements in stories?

Greenwell:
When we talk about the differences of writing for print and broadcast, I ask my students how many have really been emotionally touched by a print story. A few hands go up. Good writing can really touch people. But I ask how many have been touched by a video story when you can experience the emotion shown by the person on video, a lot more hands go up. The emotional effect a story has can be determined by the medium. When you can see it and hear it - the only thing we haven't captured is the smell - you experience it more the way it was. When you are reading it, you're putting your own interpretation on what that experience was like. Some stories better lend themselves to print. Some to audio or video. Sometimes we can meld them together, particularly on the web as a way to click to the next link and get the depth you want. In the end, we're moving toward an exciting time. People might be reading more things, in some cases more depth and in some cases less depth. They have more choices and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Duke:
The challenge for us, for students and media in general, is determining what elements of a story are best told in print, or video or other images. Media tends to be telling the same story on the different platforms, rather than telling the parts that lend themselves best to the particular medium.

IQ:It used to be that someone did one thing at a time, read the newspaper or watched TV. How do you reach the person who is using a variety of media at one time?

Duke:
This is not a young person's media anymore. We often focus on the decline of newspaper readership among young people and young adults, but trend lines defy age groups. 18-35 might read less than 45-55, but all age groups have been falling at the same rate for the last 30 years. Newspapers have been losing readers because they're not modern enough; they don't have a multi-media feel to them. Even Baby Boomers are finding new media and audio and video more compelling than print.

Greenwell:
It gets back to time and engagement. If you're part of the sandwich generation there are so many things you need to get done in a day that you don't have time to sit down with a newspaper. I work in the industry and sometimes it's not until the end of the day before I go to bed that I can open up a newspaper go through the stories. I have three children, a husband, an older mother I've cared for, so it's catch as catch can. I log in at work to find out what's going on and read the newspaper before I go to bed. People are busy and with the negativity of news, people are tired of being depressed after they've watched TV or read the newspaper. They want balance.

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Posted on April 4, 2007 4:03 PM | Permalink