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New business models needed for press to thrive
Amid heightened competition, news media companies must find new business models if they want to thrive without neglecting their responsibilities as the press.
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Amid heightened competition, news media companies must find new business models if they want to thrive without neglecting their responsibilities as the press. (Shutterstock/File)
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mid heightened competition, news media companies must find new business models if they want to thrive without neglecting their responsibilities as the press, a Press Council member has said.
The idea was conveyed by Press Council member Imam Wahyudi during a panel discussion held to commemorate World Press Freedom Day -- which falls on May 3 -- in Jakarta on Friday.
"This is not only a challenge for news media companies themselves, but also for the academics to help find new business models so the press can survive," Imam said.
He argued that news media companies had to start cutting operational costs and think of new revenue sources instead of relying solely on subscriptions and advertisements, which have forced them to use headings to garner page views.
"For example, media companies can start monetizing their libraries, archives and data as new sources of revenue, just as foreign companies have started doing," he told reporters on the sidelines of the event.
Imam said that amid the apparent shift toward digital media, companies were still adopting the same old business models without realizing the endless possibilities offered by the digital era.
This overreliance on advertisements had pushed media companies to cross ethical borders, he said, adding that companies had gone as far as overworking their reporters.
