They still don’t get it!

The plight of the media has been in the news over the last couple of weeks and like so many, the Federal Government has succumbed to injecting $50 million dollars into the industry to help them get through the fallout of the Covid-19 crisis.

To most reading this, that would seem to be a fair and reasonable response by the Government, but for this little regional publisher, it just says to me that they still don’t get it.

I liken it to the car industry. The car industry in Australia was a shot duck a long time ago and anyone with a good business head knew that all the money in the world wouldn’t save it. Throwing money at it may prolong the inevitable but it would not get it back to when it needed to be on a profitable or pay its own way basis.

In my opinion, the media organisations that are in trouble because of Covid-19, were in trouble before that. Covid-19 has just accelerated the inevitable here too, and this $50 million injection will only prolong their demise a bit longer.

It also seems so grossly unfair to me that a Government should have to give such money to an industry that for so many years made megabucks, and I mean megabucks. They didn’t call the big newspapers rivers of gold for nothing and we all know the zillions of dollars television stations were known to spend paying people for stories, sporting events etc. Those were the days when they had monopolies and big audiences and could call the tune. Competition, technology, and a changing world now gives people choices and they are choosing other areas to get their news and entertainment.

So, what don’t they get?

Again, and purely in my view, it’s very simple – they are no longer giving people what they want. If you offer, hamburgers, haircuts, professional advice or a media outlet, your success will greatly depend on how satisfied you can make your customers feel. If someone else doing the same thing offers a better product, service or experience, chances are customers will choose them over you.

The media organisations that are in trouble have simply not delivered what people want and where they have tried, the price, quality or service is not as good as one can get elsewhere. It’s that simple.

We recently heard that Australian Community Media who own the Central Western Daily, among about 170 other newspapers, is cancelling many of their non-daily newspapers. That’s tragic, especially for regional and country towns, but it’s their own fault, and certainly not totally because of Covid-19. Over many years, the owners of the CWD and other papers right across the Nation have let their publications virtually disintegrate and it’s simply been because none of them have taken the necessary time to fully understand and appreciate the people they serve, what they are like, what they want and then how to give them what they want while still making a profit.

Here at Orange City Life, I like to think we’ve got it right. Pity some of these big out of town owners didn’t ask people like me what’s needed. Who better to ask than someone who produces a publication that most people who see it, like?