Advertisers drift away from a medium that looks in terminal decline. Budgets get squeezed and papers get smaller.

Then, just when it seems that nothing could get any worse, the industry becomes embroiled in the phone-hacking scandal, the News of the World closes down, and the Leveson inquiry threatens a ferocious new regulatory regime that could squeeze out the pulse-quickening news, mischief and reporting that are perhaps the only thing newspapers had left going for them.

—“New media don’t wipe out old media. But their arrival does change the ecosystem… My hunch is that over the next decade, the Internet will move to become the dominant ‘species’ in our ecosystem.”

We asked our interdisciplinary and international class of Master’s students to comment on the media landscape and the debates about press freedom and the rise of digital technology and have edited their comments into a crowdsourced article.

Media ecosystem

Joanna Taylor introduces our discussion:

“As social media and smartphones make information more readily available is this creating a more transparent environment? Will this lead to a positive global impact and  opportunities for people to have their say? Or does this also lead to less credibility and less control over content now that anyone can publish content on the Internet.”

Valerie Menelec comments:

“One of the main characteristic of our ecosystem is that all its different parts have to work together. Taking an ecosystem approach means that we consider all these elements at every stage in our decisions so we contribute to our environment being healthy and resilient for the future.

“Acknowledging the significant influence of technology on the media ecosystem means better understanding its opportunities and limitation as well as its contribution. Only by using an ecosystem approach will PR and marketing innovate and contribute to making this media ecosystem sustainable.”

James Ascroft adds:

“It is evident that media landscapes and ecosystems can be influenced by many different factors, whether it be by a prevailing political agenda or driven by technology and a thirst for always being at the cutting edge of technology and the need to be constantly updated and the ability to comment and contribute.”

Decline of print?

The decline in print and rise of digital media seems inevitable, but is it global?

Free press, free society

The tension between a free media and privacy may seem universal, but is this a Western preoccupation?

Elisabeth Strassburger comments:

“In most developed countries, the press is supposed to be free. But it is arguable if that is really true. Germany, for example, is ranked only 17^th for a free press worldwide. Germany used to be ranked much higher. One reason for this is the pressure of extremist groups on critical journalists and the slow information flow from governmental departments, that makes it difficult to give accurate information to the public.

Nevertheless, Germany still has a relatively free press compared to other countries. In Turkey, which is ranked only 154th, there are many journalists in jail. Unfortunately  journalists are convicted under anti-terror laws as soon as their articles are a bit more critical than the government likes. Also blogs have been closed, for the same reason.”

Aditya Bansal writes about India:

“In India, the introduction of television and the web has not reduced the impact of newspapers or even radio. They still are a major part of the media ecosystem. As people are becoming more literate and everyone is not able to access web in all parts of India, this explains why India is one of the few countries where the newspaper industry has been booming.

“The idea of a free society through a free press is still new for Indians and the concept is unfamiliar in conservative India where the Internet is more prevalent in the cities than in rural areas.”

Mohammad Alharbi adds:

“According to Reporters Without Borders, Saudi Arabia was ranked 161 out of 173 countries for freedom of the press. The government controls most kinds of media and it has been like that for years. However, during the past few years with the improvement of technology, more people are using the Internet to express themselves and their views. The media is becoming harder to control and the government is actually having to work harder than before.”

Emma Mugi comments:

“In Kenya, it is only in the last 10 to 12 years that the mass media has been free to report or say anything about the president and his top officials. Previously all information had to be read and censored by the presidential press service.

“Media houses have developed stronger backbones and have with time given the people information without fear of recourse.”

The limits of free speech

Minnah F. Haniffa writes from a Norwegian perspective:

“Consider the debate about free speech that followed the Muhammad cartoon controversy. We are shaped and developed in the face of others, through conversation, actions, through the positive and negative reactions we get ourselves. It could be a smile, a counter-argument in a debate, it may be a harsh word or rejection of a job application.

“Our experiences form the basis for our reactions, attitudes and perceptions. Therefore, freedom of expression is so vital. In our culture it is a fundamental value. For me freedom is something we can be for – but it may not be a right that trumps all other rights and values. Also freedom of expression must be used with wisdom and thoughtfulness. Only in this way can we ensure fairness and care for the individual in a democratic society.”

“Who has the power in the debates regarding topics such as discrimination, religion and racism? Should everyone be heard and have the possibility in creating new fears?”

Archit Siwach warns that the media is too easily manipulated by the PR industry:

“Recent events have made it clear that the media has been used as a tool to create temporary audiences. Private PR firms know how to attract media attention and thus they create campaigns which may look unsuccessful but are designed for publicity and profit.

“Social media is a powerful tool and the common man’s hand has proved its importance in the case of “killing of Osama bin Laden” in Pakistan. But it is not a reliable tool. Fake stories can become real by being shared online.”

Hanh Ngo Dinh adds:

“In Vietnam the government owns and controls most of news publications. There is a very high level of censorship and surveillance by the government. Information relating to political problems, corruption, human rights issues, conflict between countries are all listed as forbidden topics that should not appear on news media.

“Because of the press censorship by the government, the number of people using social media (especially Facebook and blogs) is increasing. Journalists use their independent blogs to reveal the truth or provide more information related to some forbidden topics, which they are unable publish in the national news.

“Newspapers could be replaced by social media and the Internet in the near future but they will never disappear because nothing can be as trustworthy as a newspaper.”

Stephen Sarfo adds:

“Western democratic countries like the UK allow a ‘free press’ and try not to restrict the media to a large extent. But there are still efforts by the government to regulate the media.

“I think that this is necessary because without some restrictions, the mass media and individuals can abuse the freedom they have. In some cases the press have breached the private lives of individuals by going through all kinds of (unethical) means in order to get the latest news. A perfect example of this is the News of the World phone hacking scandal.”

The challenge of defining public relations in the digital media landscape in which everyone is media and almost anyone could be an influencer is pressing. This would be a good topic for a future crowdsourced article.

Your module leader is Richard Bailey and the module tutor is Stuart Bruce. Both have contributed to Share This: The Social Media Handbook for PR Professionals published this year.

The agenda for the block-delivery teaching is here.

Your assignment briefing is here.

Here’s a selected reading list, and an introductory slide show.

So how do you develop a communication strategy? Start by understanding the difference between strategy and tactics:

• Strategy is immutable (it’s the big picture)
• Tactics adapt to circumstances

The best way to learn is through case studies: what have other people done before?

We used to operate in a broadcast model, but now search is becoming increasingly personalised. When we search we are at our most attentive and receptive.

New job titles being created for this data-rich world: eg community manager, chief listening officer, chief influence officer. PR people now need to get to grips with numbers and data.

SEO: ‘Organic’ search – the results found by search engines based on web content. Free – but time consuming. Search by keywords: so which words to focus on (optimise)? Google AdWords tool can help you to refine your keywords based on what people are really using. Search ranking: On-page factors (eg frequency of keywords, tags) and off-page factors (eg quality of inbound links).

SEM: Paid search advertising. Easy – but costly. Important to PR people in a crisis.

‘There’s going to be a merger of PR and SEO’. PR people can win – but the current PR agency model may not necessarily be fit for purpose.

Write for people first – not for machines. Images and videos need to be tagged with words if they’re to be found.

Traditional PR (eg media relations) still has an important place in the new world of search.

Social media newsrooms: News and news releases are no longer exclusive to journalists. Social media news release is an improved version of what went before. It adds in social media / multimedia and share buttons.

Good examples: hsbc, First Direct, Cisco.

Managing a newsroom:

• Post fresh news frequently
• Use multimedia, not just words
• Use natural text (not jargon)
• Link to other sites and pages
• Reply to comments
• Measure your results

9 Revealing Numbers about SEO and Google Page Rank (SocialTurns via Sophie Thomas)

12 Social Media Monitoring Tools Reviewed (Six Revisions via Sophie Thomas)

The Art of Landing New Clients via Social Media (Andrew Worob via Sophie Thomas)

Emery [David Emery is head of marketing at Beggars Group, parent company of Adele's record label] says the aim was less about selling more music and tickets, than to provide “another communication platform” for Adele’s fans, sitting alongside her own website, Facebook and Twitter.

The social aspect has been incredibly popular: there’s a whole set of people that use the app on an hourly basis,” says Emery, citing stats from the app’s leaderboard, which ranks fans according to their in-app activity.

Then we’ll be looking at what others say about Leeds. Let’s take a look on Twitter and on SocialMention. (How do we separate out mentions of the football team from mentions of the city?)

What do you focus on? Which conversations matter? Who’s influencing the conversation? How do you get this information to the people who can do something about it? And what tools can help you do all this?

1. You represent yourself and your organisation
2. Legal issues remain on social media
3. It is not just about me
4. What is said will linger
5. Use your common sense