Youth and the News

A presentation to the Canadian Media Research Consortium
by Pema Hegan, Editor-in-Chief of Dose
Vancouver, April 3 2006
Pema Hegan - pema.hegan@mac.com

Hello.


What is
Dose?


Apart from ‘that’

* ‘that’ = venereal diseases (VD): diseases or infections that have a
significant probability of transmission between humans by means of
sexual contact, vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and/or anal sex.

I’m not going to talk
about:
> Media habits of young
Canadians
> Future of (media) technology
> Other people’s research and
theories in this area


Special thanks to:

Happy Nice Day


Agenda.
> This is a paradigm shift.
> We’re not in control.
> 4 simple things Dose has
learnt about talking with youth.
> Need to create journalists
for the new paradigm.


Kiss and tell


A conversation about
youth and the news
is a conversation about
how young peoples
relationship with
media is changing.


This is a
PARADIGM SHIFT


Moving away from
traditional information
media in search of media
experiences that are:

> Targeted
> Authentic
> Social
> Democratic

This is not TV.

Tweaking will not ﬁx it.

Texting newspaper
headlines to phones
or letting people watch
shows online is just
changing platform

- it’s not acknowledging
the paradigm shift.


Happening right now
and driven by youth.


Young people are
adopting (or creating)
new technology and
changing things
themselves.


Fundamental ideas are
becoming redundant.


Will this kill journalism,
or TV, or newspapers?

Absolutely not.
But it will
change them.


We’re not in control.


Anyone with a web
connection can now:

1.Create content
2.Organize and share content
3.Consume any way they like


We don’t control the
creation, organization or
distribution of content anymore.

And web communities have
marketing networks
that destroy us!

1. Create


iMovie, Premier, Quicktime, Pinnacle,
FinalCut, Microsoft Movie Maker & more


2. Organize and share


Flickr:
> 2m* registered users
> 100m* photos posted (*USA Today – Feb 2006)


Local blogs beat us to
the news daily.


If you’re not happy
create your own.


3. Consume it any
way you like


A totally mobile PC
for under $300.


Toronto hydro telecom
announces blanket WiFi
coverage in Toronto core…

free for
the first
6 mths


TV anywhere.


Success is not about
trying to predict the
outcome

- we need to join the
movement and help
create the new media
landscape

Questions?


In spite of all of this…
I’m optimistic.


Ambition to change.
Great content.
Trusted brands.
Talented journalists.


Four simple things:


1. Ask people to
participate


2. Think beyond the
traditional deﬁnition of
news


Rethink news


What are people
talking about?

Technorati is a real-time search engine that keeps
track of what is going on in the blogospher

Metafilter is a weblog that anyone can contribute a
link or a comment to. This website exists to break
down the barriers between people, to extend a
weblog beyond just one person, and to foster
discussion among its members.


3. Make people laugh


4. Think across
platform


5. Be brutally honest


WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH THE COVER?
Dose may be free, but it’s far from free to produce. So when an
advertiser like Kokanee — which is excited about its new series of cans
designed by Canadian artists to salute Western Canada’s most famous
mountains — wants to make a major splash with our readers, we’re
more than happy to provide them with some prime real estate to do so.
In return, they pay us a lot of money for that privilege, and, as always,
we pass the savings on to you. (We’ve also reproduced our regularly
scheduled cover on this page for your reading enjoyment.)


We all need to help
create journalists for
the new paradigm.


Checklist:
Think across platform
Intuitively involve readers
Have ideas that get
talked about
Live by a boarder
deﬁnition of news


Two ﬁnal thoughts:


Let’s be an industry that
recognizes innovation.


Fine Young Journalist is
in one of our newsrooms
- or all of them.
Let’s listen to her.

Thank you.

Contact details for Pema Hegan:
+1 416 903 1701
pema.hegan@mac.com
www.linkedin.com/in/pemahegan
www.ﬂickr.com/photos/pema
Skype: pematsering

Youth and the News

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