"What's going on … is a gradual transfer of power from broadcaster, distributor and supplier, to viewer, listener and consumer."
- Ed Richards, from the media regulator Ofcom, talking at the Westminster Media Forum.
The Guardian reported his views that media consumers are being liberated by new technology. Richards is the regulator's senior partner in competition and strategy and believes a phenomenon is emerging as consumers created their own television schedules, music compilations or news footage.
As reported here before, he sees the recent coverage of the London bombings as a watershed. 24-hour news channels, bulletins, camera phones and text messages combined to give a snapshot of convergence in the media industry. Consumers contributed content like never before, and it provided new insights and perspective to the events as they unfolded.
"Much of what we saw in how people communicated with each other, how they shared information, how they found information and followed events offered an acute illustration of many of the trends we see more generally in the UK."
He also told the meeting that he viewed podcasting and blogging as ‘liberating’ media consumers – user-generated content is breaking the domination of ‘big media’, but it’s a phenomenon which has only just started.
"The self-creation of content and the self-distribution of that content . . . is a really important and significant long-term development which we have hardly scratched the surface of."
As such it is difficult to see where it is heading. It’s already clear that big media is jumping on the bandwagon of podcasting, in order not to miss the boat as it did with blogging. And were after that? I was on a DV shooting and editing course recently, and video production is coming down to an accessible price – will videocasting (or whatever the video equivalent of podacsting is) be next?
Matt
Comments