Over the last few years, digital disruption and diminishing revenues from advertisers has affected the operations of newsrooms and media agencies. The coronavirus pandemic further affected the funding models that sustained most media houses. In many countries across the globe, media houses are now closing shop because they can no longer maintain their operations. What is the future of traditional media? This is one of the questions that stakeholders in the media industry have been asking. Well, if they embrace new funding models, they should be able to sustain some of their operations. Some of the ways they can do it are as follows.
Partnerships
There are many organisations that are willing to partner with media houses and agencies to drive different agendas. Media houses should look for companies and corporates that share the same mandate with them. They can then partner in coverage of events and activities that the organisations are doing. This kind of partnership can lead to a compromised media since the partners can sometimes start making demands for biased coverage. It helps if they sign a comprehensive agreement on what each one of them is expected to do.
Crowd Funding
If a media entity is dedicated to churning good content, they will get the attention of their audiences. There are people who are willing to give their funds for the benefit of good journalism. Media organisations like propublica that survive through the goodwill of the people. Even media houses like The Guardian in the UK now have a call for donations from people who may be interested in consuming the news.
Diversifying Media Content
Most of the media houses are now shifting from traditional media and getting into converged newsroom models. In this new model, they can transmit news using different channels, including print, broadcast and digital. They are also open to using their social media sites to disseminate breaking news in a bid to attract more audiences.