Out With A Bang

We have, of course, muttered much about the virtues of this new ‘link economy’; that as this great beast that is the Web chews us all up and spits us out again, who can – in all honesty – afford to be all things to all men?

Who can, hand on heart, be this all-singing, all-dancing multi-media hub; vidcasting here, podcasting there; when money is too tight to mention…

Not the Telegraph Media Group, clearly, who – to their link credit – today emerged as the first national newspaper to proffer a hand of partnership in the BBC’s direction after Auntie yesterday announced that she was about to let the rest of the kids play with her toys; that it was in no-one’s best interest to see her as the ‘last man standing…’ as this forest fire rages.

So, fair play to TMG, rather than bite the hand that was trying to feed them, someone has clearly sat there and thought: ‘You know, what… we’ll have a bit of that… Oooh, and that… And, can we do this too…?’

And that’s smart. Very 2009. What it means for the future of TelegraphTV is a moot point; perhaps in the current climate they’ll just look to keep it ticking over as best they can; but maybe not throw the millions into it they once were… not now they were starting to poke around in Auntie’s video drawers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/dec/12/bbc-iplayer-telegraph-media-group

All of which was heralded yesterday as the Beeb, chastened by their bruising run-in with the Newspaper Society over their local video plans, came back to the table with their toys out…

“We’re been in discussion with one national daily newspaper about a pilot scheme which would for example make BBC online video much more available to that newspaper’s website,” Thompson told journalists yesterday, the ink starting to dry on their ‘understanding’ with TMG.

“If that is successful we will also offer similar arrangements to any other newspaper – national or regional – who want to take advantage of them.”

One of which is clearly the Guardian Media Group – particularly now that the Telegraph have taken the lead… that much is clear from Emily Bell’s reaction today; they too want a slice of that action…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2008/dec/12/bbc-iplayer-partnerships

Whether the word ‘regional’ was spat out by Thompson through gritted teeth is another matter. For me, what will be fascinating to watch is who of the ‘regionals’ breaks ranks first and actually grabs whatever’s going; all fresh, of course, from their ‘No, no, no… no need for you lot round here…’ antics of the summer.

It might also put Ms McCall in an interesting position given that GMG’s Queen Bee wears two hats in all this… there’s Ms Bell saying: ‘Yeh, bring it on… link, link, link…’ whereas put her ‘local-stroke-MEN’ hat on and having led the charge against those local video plans with Ms Bailey…

“Regional and local newspapers are having to reshape their business around what consumers want to see and what they can afford to serve,” said Ms McCall, just last month…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/21/bbc-local-online-video-newspaper-society

“This [decision] is going to give [local media] a chance to reshape their businesses experiment and innovate in local video. They need time to find a way to do that.”

… then there might be a quandry afoot. For if Ms Bell wants to innovate in national video with the BBC; does Ms McCall want GMG to innovate with the BBC with local video… now that they’re offering it up for free? No, was the answer last month; one month and a new set of 2009 ad reveune forecasts later… who knows?

And where might this all leave GMG’s other baby in this, Channel M TV? Their own great – and, presumeably, expensive – innovation in local TV?

Go back to Mark Potts’ way forward for the imploding US newspaper industry yesterday and one way out was to share, to consolidate, to cluster… to share the same life-raft, in effect, if anyone wishes to carry on with the Web as an iceberg thinking.

‘I’ve got a bar of chocolate, we can share… I’ve got a bottle of mineral water…

Because that’s what Thompson and Co are still offering – to link. To share. To co-operate. To cluster.

“The essential answer to are we prepared to share is yes we are. Neither we, nor our audiences, want the BBC to be the last man standing,” said Thompson.

“As the economics of regional TV news get tighter, it will make more sense. Why send multiple camera crews to get rushes of a local traffic accident when just one will do?”

Exactly. Why?

Because we’re a regional newspaper group and we’ve now got all these multi-media journalists [both of them...] with their hand-held cameras; we can do it just as well as you…

Can you? Can you really afford to be in all places at all times? Or are your staffing levels now such that if someone rings up your newsdesk and says: ‘Decent RTA on the M6, we’re sending… pop you a link across in a couple of hours…’ you’re going to turn that down?

Really?

At which point are you providing your customers, your punters, [what was once] your audience with a bigger and better service? Or are you still stuck up that ivory tower, refusing to come down and join the rest of us as we all scrabble about for any free content we can find?

What’s ‘backchat’ all about? Well, as much as it all about letting a community find its voice and the journalist therein to spark some better-informed conversations, it is also all about sourcing a dynamic, 24/7 rolling UGC feed. That’s free to a poor-as-a-down-at-heel-church-mouse like me.

Stick to that ‘No, no, no… of course, we were the only news organisation there…’ line and you’re just hastening your own demise.

It’s a networked world of Shirky’s thinking that we’re moving into; one where only the linked will survive.

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