ADOI Blog

MSM vs. Bloggers: The Challenge of Finding a Middle Ground

mackattack on 05 2, 2008

Recently I wrote a rather controversial blog entry titled “Media Integration – is the industry matured enough”. In the blog entry, I specifically mentioned:

“An unconfirmed report touted that the leading English daily The Star suffered a twenty five percent reduction in circulation. This is of course anecdotal, and ADOI does not condone speculations without fact. However, any ad-man will know that perception often carries more credibility than truth. On a side note, it would be beneficial to The Star if they could respond to this speculation and set the record straight.”

The reason I raised this issue is because the pro-online media crowd has been speculating that the death of the mainstream media is just round the corner, and the so called decline in The Star’s circulation is a sign of this to come.

I disagree with this line of thought, and the statement was meant for The Star to set the record straight and put an end to the rumour-mongering. ADOI got an SMS from Wong Chun Wai who confirmed that this was untrue. In fact, during the elections, circulation INCREASED.

A quote from The Star’s Group Chief Editor Datuk Wong Chun Wai “Our sales have shot up – not gone down 25%. All papers gone up.” So the rumours – garnered from heresay amongst exuberant bloggers and anti-MSM individuals is absolutely untrue. Even campaigns to discredit and boycott MSM has apparently failed. [Example: http://www.chanlilian.net/2008/03/07/wear-red-to-the-polls....]

There is a reason for this.

The fact of the matter is that mainstream media is still a very credible source of news for a lot of people – from general news to political editorials. It is getting even more credible now, as I quoted in the article:

“Speaking of The Star, despite clearly being an MCA controlled entity, their reporting of late has been moving towards a greater degree of neutrality. A search result from The Star using the keyword ‘Guan Eng’ revealed an unprecedented amount of positive articles. Wong Chun Wai, the top dog as far as editorial is concerned, has been moving around working hard engaging opposition politicians.”

The point that I was making is that mainstream media is changing. It has moved aggressively online, with blogs and videocasts. It’s content is less spin-doctoring and more towards what the man on the street needs to know and make an informed decision about the future of this nation. You can’t say the same for all blogs. Despite this, mainstream media is now engaging credible and influential bloggers, and quoting their sites which helps drive traffic to these bloggers.

This in turn will help more bloggers strive for a higher degree of credibility. Most bloggers put being quoted by the mainstream media on the top of their wish list – despite the frequent criticism against the manner of reporting and stance taken by major news media.

My question to the readers of ADOI’s blog, is the integration – or at least an active relationship between one man show bloggers and huge media organizations – possible given our social mentality of gang-banging a particular person or issue. Will sensationalism ruin the possibility of mainstream media – who are legally bounded to double check facts – and bloggers, who tend to be anecdotal? Will the attention given to credible bloggers lead to more blogger providing relevant and fact-based information to their readers, or will they continue to strive to be mini power brokers working for specific agendas that fit their goals.

The Hamster thanks feedback.

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