[kictanet] The death of print media

Thu Sep 29 13:55:47 EAT 2011

As a print journalist and journalism trainer, there are so many studies indicating that print journalism is here to stay

We are doing a lot in that direction to ensure that print journalism survives the onslaught.

We are teaching students to move away from short stories- the he/she said articles- long, colourful and descriptive articles- move your readers to the scene journalism- 800-1000 words- that is now the in-thing.

check many of the print publications are dedicating whole pages to one single  articles- that readers are responding very well.

Print editing classes are full again- publishing houses/book publishers, researchers want editors- so those who initially challenged us to stop teaching editing symbol, and related traditional editing techniques  have asked us to re introduce them.

Print journalism is here to stay

victor
________________________________
From: kictanet-bounces+victor=article19.org at lists.kictanet.or.ke [kictanet-bounces+victor=article19.org at lists.kictanet.or.ke] on behalf of james ratemo [jratemo at gmail.com]
Sent: 29 September 2011 10:17
To: Victor Bwire
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] The death of print media

I cannot miss to add my voice here...As a print journalist for the last five years I can testify as to how great my consumption of the print media has dwindled...five years ago I could feel sick if  I did not read a newspaper or watch news...today I can survive provided I have access to the Internet and my TV...in fact Facebook and twitter can sometimes be sufficient in feeding me with the news then I decide where to click if I need details...all major stories are always online and couple this with their interactive nature and you will feel sorry for the print journalists who must wait until the day two to shout out what happened 'yesterday'

....they really must tell it in magical/captivating way if they have to motivate the reader to scan past the third para

I read most of the news online because access to the Internet is no longer a headache...studies have confirmed that Kenyans  are spending more time online meaning marketers are following them there....since the print is largely dependent on advertisers for survival, it behooves them to change tact  and coin online survival tactics as circulation dips and print revenue fades.

Well, one may argue that Internet penetration is still an issue hence most people would still depend on print but I dare say that those who are less bothered with  absence of Internet may as well live without print...otherwise reading culture among such a population  would also be wanting....

As an online subeditor I know and appreciate that online editions beat the print versions 10-nil when it comes to speed and variety...but the newspaper remains a status symbol for many and a critical resource for libraries and offices that are yet to embrace fully the online reality.

I predict that print will hung on to life support for a few years to come but ultimately it may pave way or be forced to do an overhaul to remain in the news stands...the question that should disturb media houses now is not how to improve the dwindling sales but how to reap form the online platform...the faster they do that the better

On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 8:27 AM, meshack emakunat <memakunat at yahoo.com<mailto:memakunat at yahoo.com>> wrote:
morning

@robert please elaborate on your aguement. in my opinion, if have an assignment to complete, it will be more easier for me to google a report then edit a few word,or "sambaza" a report from a friends computer in no time then present it

--- On Wed, 9/28/11, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk<mailto:robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>> wrote:

From: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk<mailto:robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] The death of print media
To: "meshack emakunat" <memakunat at yahoo.com<mailto:memakunat at yahoo.com>>

Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>>
Date: Wednesday, September 28, 2011, 8:36 AM

Hi,

"the importance of the print media is that it it encourages research"

This is laughable, as has been brought out in the thread on
Vizualisations on Student Teacher Ratio

Regards

Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
Kenya

Tel: +254722511225<tel:%2B254722511225>, +254202010696<tel:%2B254202010696>
________________________________
From: meshack emakunat <memakunat at yahoo.com<mailto:memakunat at yahoo.com>>
To: robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk<mailto:robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>>
Sent: Wednesday, 28 September 2011, 17:08
Subject: Re: [kictanet] The death of print media

the importance of the print media is that it it encourages research. but we use the electronic media since the information contained in it is very wide and diverse as compared to print media. regards meshack.

--- On Tue, 9/27/11, Njoroge Tito <titonjoroge at gmail.com<mailto:titonjoroge at gmail.com>> wrote:

From: Njoroge Tito <titonjoroge at gmail.com<mailto:titonjoroge at gmail.com>>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] The death of print media
To: memakunat at yahoo.com<mailto:memakunat at yahoo.com>
Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>>
Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 12:24 AM

I know several people who used to buy the friday papers looking for jobs. Nowadays, they get a pdf version of all advertised jobs, including some that are not in the papers (for free). Companies are posting more jobs on their "careers" section of their websites than in the print media.

Dead? Maybe not, declining - definitely.

Regards,
Tito.

On 27 September 2011 10:18, Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:
Yawe,

I dont think Print Media would die simply because online media is growing exponentially. If this was true then this death would have already happened in the US/Europe (NY Times, FT, etc)

What might instead kill Print media - particularly in Kenya - is the poor reading culture of Kenyans.  Kenyans read only for exams and front-page politics(headlines - which they dont need to pay for). That is what will kill print media in this country.

walu.

--- On Tue, 9/27/11, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

From: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>

Subject: Re: [kictanet] The death of print media
To: jwalu at yahoo.com

Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 9:30 AM

Hi Harry,

Being my managing editor I need to weight my words carefully least I find myself platform less.

The banks used similar analogies to yours when they rejected the initial advances from Safaricom and their MPesa act, when the multinationals contacted their corporate headquarters they must have received back 1,000 of links to studies done in the "developed" world about mobile money transfer and payment initiatives.  They were told that mobile is about micro payments not serious business transactions.

It is definite that the "experts" could not read the writing on the wall because it was in a language they did not understand "M-Pesa" which had been erroneously translated to Mobile Money.  In addition they failed to factor in a population with peculiar habits since such a variable is difficult to incorporate into a financial spreadsheet model.

Print is dead and the sooner we accept the verdict the better for us all.

Regards

"I am a grand father because my niece recently gave birth to a bouncing baby boy, but I am also a great grand father as my grand niece recently gave birth to a bouncing baby girl - I use a smart phone"

Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
Kenya

Tel: +254722511225<tel:%2B254722511225>, +254202010696<tel:%2B254202010696>
________________________________
From: Harry Hare <harry at africanedevelopment.org>
To: robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Sent: Tuesday, 27 September 2011, 7:29
Subject: Re: [kictanet] The death of print media

Hey Bobby and the online wirriors :-)

You made an accurate observation, but the conclusion could have been rushed. The lack of response from print media could be that your target audience was misssed - either due to absence or placement; effectiveness of the advert itself and the call to action etc. So there are many variables that cause someone to or not respond to a print advert.

It true that globally print is turning online but most media houses are keeping both cos there is quite a large audience that still prefers and consumes print than online. So preference is a key factor on this this. We are seeing publications printing on demand for instance, just for thier customers.

The web has many advantages over print. Think about it, an impression on the web is equivalent to your turning a newspaper page and seeing an advert. Now, you can measure this on the web, but not on print. It's also easier to respond to call to action on the web than on print.

Then ofcourse print is changing and creating linkages with mobile and web. Many print publications are now using technologies like QR codes to land you onto a specific page on the web...so we are already seeing convergence here.

So yes, online is encroaching, but it will be a while before print dies. By the way some publications which went totally online about 5 years ago, are back on print again :-) I cant explain the dynamics here, but they must have realised that they needed their print back. Just my unschooled thoughts.

Harry Hare

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 27, 2011, at 6:22 AM, Harry Karanja <kairo at softlaw.co.ke<http://mc/[email protected]>> wrote:

Barrack,

I think by using your grandpa in your example you have just proved Robert's point.

Regards,
Harry Karanja

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 26, 2011, at 9:07 AM, Barrack Otieno <<http://mc/[email protected]>otieno.barrack at gmail.com<http://mc/[email protected]>> wrote:

I guess it depends with the target audience, grandpa has been faithfull in buying his daily , he then asks me to update him on emerging trends in technology since he cant figure out the tech lingua in the dailies.

Best Regards

On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 9:02 AM, Rad! <<http://mc/[email protected]><http://mc/[email protected]>conradakunga at gmail.com<http://mc/[email protected]>> wrote:
Well ... they same thing was said about newspapers when radio gained
popularity and again later when TV gained popularity.

Yet somehow print media is still with us some 60+ years after its
death was predicted ...

On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 8:55 AM, robert yawe <<http://mc/[email protected]><http://mc/[email protected]>robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk<http://mc/[email protected]>> wrote:
> Hi All,
> I have finally realised that the print media is dead for all intent but the
> distribution of political propaganda here is my proof;
> 5 years ago I could place an advert in the classified section of the Nation
> or Standard newspapers and receive over 500 responses, 2 years ago I would
> place a one eighth page full colour advert only to receive 150 responses,
> last week a placed a quarter page advert in the Nation and only received 5
> responses.
> Interestingly, I placed a link on facebook and my website received over 700
> hits within 4 hours, that's the final straw I will no longer spend a penny
> on print advertising and fully embrace online.
> Regards
>
>
> Robert Yawe
> KAY System Technologies Ltd
> Phoenix House, 6th Floor
> P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
> Kenya
>
> Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
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