Should we be worried of yet another example of large media platforms getting it together and sharing content?
In a word, yes! We’re not yet at the precipice of when just a couple of media groups will dominate the world’s news content, but we’re getting close.
Yahoo and ABC have just announced a new alliance which means in future they will share news stories across their websites. And to mark this union, they will jointly broadcast a live interview with US President Barak Obama.
The arrangement means that ABC News will publish Yahoo news stories. In turn, ABC will share its own video reports and feature them on the Yahoo’s website. This includes one of the country’s lead programmes, Good Morning America.
Whilst ABC is a major US broadcaster, Yahoo.com is the most popular news website in the country. Both their websites show a combined usage figure of around 100 unique users.
The downside is of course, that this sort of arrangement pleases the accountants first, and viewers second. And once you start to mix news staff in this sort of way, one of the organisations gets the upper hand and both teams start to look the same. This means that they share editorial views and decisions, and the content can become unrecognisable from each other.
And the fewer news organisations in existence, the less likelihood of real independence. This threatens the real objectivity of news gathering organisations and presents a danger to how news is presented and possibly exploited by the owners of media companies.
In other words, this sort of deal should worry news hounds.
Attribute to: Neil Martin, Cayenne Red.
Neil Martin is a digital marketing UK SEO consultant with Cayenne Red, Berkshire, and is a regular contributor to the media on how companies market themselves in the digital age.