Old media says it can take on new media and survive

BY A CORRESPONDENT

17 May, 2007: Old media is in a mood to fight the new media. According to a report in The Guardian, Sly Bailey, chief executive of Trinity Mirror, has launched a forceful defense of newspapers by accusing media pundits of exaggerating the impact of the internet and new media.

Much of the pessimism about the newspaper market has been created by certain media commentators misjudging the market, Sly Bailey was quoted
by the newspaper as telling shareholders at the company’s annual meeting.

Trinity Mirror owns The Mirror, Scotland’s Daily Record and a host of regional titles.

While admitting that that the growth of digital media, particularly broadband penetration, creates challenges because of the proliferation of available news
sources, she stressed that traditional media has adapted to ‘fragmentation.’

Sly Bailey stressed the newspaper industry’s ability to react to the rise of celebrity magazines and 24-hour television news.

She said the rush of advertising money to the internet has been overdone. “When the market turns and advertising returns, and it will, we believe we
are better placed than anyone to benefit,” Sly Bailey said of Trinity Mirror.

She said she is confident that newspapers will be in business for many years to come, pointing out the fact that three-quarters of all adults read a
newspaper at least once in a four-week period.

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, the United States, leading media executives adopted a combative tone against internet companies.

At a panel discussion on the second day of the 56th Annual National Cable and Telecommunications Association conference on May 9, 2007, top
executives said the talk of the demise of the traditional media in the digital age was exaggerated.

The debates suggested that the old media is increasingly considering new content distributors like Google Inc. to be more foe than friend.

The media executives said that, despite the attention from Wall Street, the media industry and the press, the percentage of overall sales contributed
by digital businesses remained small and they should be mindful of destroying existing lucrative businesses.