Local News in the Digital Age
According to Pew Research Center studies, “Americans continue to prefer watching the news rather than reading or listening to it” or getting their news online.
Television still is the preferred place to get “news.” More than 40% prefer TV compared with a third preferring web.
People over 50 tend to skew more toward television and print rather than web. However, those who prefer to “read” news tend to prefer the web rather than TV or print. Readers of all ages have gravitated to web platforms, and the gap between those getting all their news online and using TV is tightening to just 6 percentage points.
The New York Times reported strong growth in digital subscriptions in the first quarter of 2019, reaching more than 3.5 million digital subscribers. We’ll need to watch how voice-activated devices change subscription rates of all news outlets. “Hey Alexa, tell me the news of the day” is going to change the landscape dramatically.
The real issue is the definition of “news.” Some people say they get all their news from Facebook. The phrase “local news” is changing. Is local news your friends having a new baby or that someone was caught shoplifting at a local store? Traditional journalism would say the shoplifting story, but on digital, you will know which story ranked higher in terms of views.
I know the Academy Awards refuses to use box office numbers to award best picture, but best “news” story is being rewritten by the internet day after day.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.