By: Sarah Kezer
Traditional media has undergone a serious metamorphosis in the past several years –but unlike hasty predictions of its death, my bet is that the newspapers and magazines we’ve relied on for decades will not only survive, but continue to hold their relevance.
Social media outlets including Twitter, Facebook, and blogs have shifted the power of disseminating information in a monumental way. No longer do we rely on a select number of news “gatekeepers” to deliver information they deem most important. Anyone who fills out a standard blog outline or sign up for a Twitter account can post breaking news and share their knowledge on a subject. This hands-on and community engaging process is serving as a useful outlet for the public to inform themselves, but that doesn’t mean that the seasoned writers and journalistic experts who are sticking to a print-based outlet are out of commission.
Print-based media are evolving and taking a new digital shape, but there’s a reason seeing your name, or in our case a client’s name, in a “traditional publication” is still exciting –we trust and admire familiar publications. These outlets have functioned for years as brands themselves, working hard to establish their names as a dependable and respectable source for readers. Many bloggers are comprehensive experts on their selected subject, but some readers still find some subconscious solace and comforting nostalgia when reading from an establishment they’ve relied on for years. A publication’s masthead, on paper or computer screen, still holds great respect and validity for the content within. And by utilizing social media channels and collaborating with professional journalists, public relations experts can contribute to these established news resources and become part of the tradition themselves.
