With the blossoming of electronic communication tools and platforms, news organisations have discovered a plethora of new opportunities in information delivery, as well as the challenge of interweaving data privacy and security with innovation.
This era of aggressive digital evolution has made data one of the most valuable commodities in existence today, leading to a renewed focus on collecting, processing, and using the information to curate targeted content specific to each and every consumer. As a result, the ability to strike a careful balance between transparency, privacy, and security, while utilising the immense potential of data and technology, assisted by intelligent innovation, is what will set apart a news organisation in this brilliant new age of possibilities.
The recent spurt in the number of mediums available to broadcast news also sheds light on the need for collaborations and the incredible opportunities they present. Several forms of information delivery besides the traditional article format, such as videos, slideshows, podcasts, map mashups, VR-modules, and the like, now exist, which completely redefine the experience of the end user, providing a more interactive experience. Furthermore, cloud-based voice services are able to read out news to the consumer, running entirely on voice commands, thereby providing the added advantage of multitasking, eliminating language barriers, and more.
It is time to increase readership of news as the reading habit is slowly dying down among the young generation.
The emergence of live video platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and the like have also proved to be a boon for news reporting, opening up a range of high-traffic avenues for delivering information to consumers. On the other hand, innovative graphical representation like the one used by The Weather Channel to highlight the impact of Tsunami is the best example!
As of now, as many as 80 per cent of the Indians consume news on the Internet, primarily through social media and instant-messaging services. The large-scale use of services like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube has allowed news organisations to offer regular updates to consumers on current events, bypassing barriers of time and accessibility. In fact, advancements made in chat-bots have also made it possible to deliver curated news, stock market updates, and other relevant information, tailored specifically for the individual consumer, on WhatsApp and Messenger.
The print media is going far ahead with innovations and the news media following suit with recent developments. It allows editors at the news organisation to create several experiences for a story, with varying headlines, blurbs, and thumbnail photos. Once the stories are live, it automatically identifies the best-performing version, displaying it more frequently to the consumers, while making appropriate improvements to the rest. Catch captions carry weight and attract the readers as a front cover attraction.
It is time to increase readership of news as the reading habit is slowly dying down among the young generation. Newspapers play a pivotal role in bringing out the best news available from time to time.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
