I have just read the latest post by the god-like Jeff Jarvis. It was Jeff’s sporadic column in Media Guardian that whet my appetite for new media and made me delve deeper into the seismic shifts happening in media and, by extension, PR.
However, I made a promise to myself when starting this blog that I wouldn’t let myself get too carried away with how much the world around is being changed overnight by blogs and podcasts. Don’t get me wrong, important areas of the media and society are being re-fashioned with new values and contexts as we speak but sometimes we in the blogosphere can overlook the bigger picture.
Jeff’s post suggests that low viewing figures and relative disinterest for the Winter Olympics in the US represents the fragmentation of ‘traditional’ media channels and the ubiquity of information through the web which mean that the concept of the ‘Big Event’ no longer exists.
I like his ideas but my instincts tell me that the Winter Olympics have never been the big draw in the way the summer games are, plus there may the issue of timing with live events not being suited to prime time audiences. For instance I can’t even remember there being a football World Cup in 1994, but there was. With the event held in the US live event timings were up the spout (although I was only 14!).
Add to that the fact that some of the American skiing/snowboarding competitors represent a self-styled collective that has rejected the official American Olympic delegation and there is more than just the issue of media fragmentation to consider.
A footnote might be how media fragmentation has helped make the winter games more accessible. I know, for instance, that what isn’t shown live on BBC1 or 2 might be televised on BBC freeview or failing that via the BBC’s website.
But Jeff is still god-like in my opinion!
Leave a Reply