“I’ve Got To Be Me.” Disintermediation. Eh?

Michael Hedges April 16, 2007

An editors’ life is full of worry. Safety and security is top of mind. With gigabytes of digitally inspired user-generated content filling the in-boxes media managers see less need for journalists and, in due course, less need for editors. When all content is equal, then opportunities for cost savings are wide and open.

I posed to BBC Global News Director Richard Sambrook a question about disintermediation – a social theory cum media trend cum branding notion suggesting that getting close to the customer, listener, viewer and reader has reached a pinnacle…or precipice. What, I asked, is the risk to news organizations and journalism by user-generated content overwhelming the relatively tiny spaces allotted for news and information in the great media expanse?

News and journalism, he thinks, would be, more of less, exempt from the movement to bring closer consumers and producers so closely watched by almost every other endeavor. Editors will always be necessary, he said.

In his blog – an ascending example of disintermediation – Sambrook expanded on the theme, bringing home the point – quite eloquently – that journalism and its product – news, information, fact and evidence – fights against becoming a commodity. Leading that fight are editors and those with editorial judgment.  (read the full post here)

“One consequence is the number of people who now believe that the world simply consists of a swirl of competing opinion. It doesn't. There are still facts, and evidence and judgment. We still need a currency of high quality, tested information as a bedrock for debate and comment. And there are ways of detecting dis-information and spin, and disciplines in assessing and compiling information and news fairly. It's called editing.”

In a disintermediated world the only song sung is “I’ve Got to Be Me.” I have an iPod to store and play “my music.” I post video of my cat on YouTube.  Amazon.com sends “my booklist” each week.

That also means I want “my news.” I am interested in seven subjects. And I want to hear, see and read only what matches, reinforces, my opinion.

Clever media people know this. Matching the right words to the needy listener or viewer raises ratings. If not, the listener or viewer moves on. There is, for example, a TV network for those who believe the earth is flat: it’s called Fox News. For other interests, the marketplace is filled with willing reinforcing media services.

Brand strategies, media and otherwise, have that decidedly post-modernist feel. Strong brands close the gap between consumer and producer. The strongest brands close that gap absolutely. Go to the BMW website and design your automobile. Go to the BBC Backstage website and design your radio or television program.

And, then, you can post your program to the web and your 12 friends can download it to their iPods…or 12 million.

Brand masters also know that customers - in our case listeners, viewers and readers – want to close the gap most with the most trusted brands; hence, Apple's iPod trumping local music radio stations. Others, well, become simple commodity traders in the disparate world of opinion. Richard Sambrook articulated the underpinning of that trust: “facts, evidence and judgment.” It’s called journalism.

Editors might be slipping under Dr. Maslow’s pyramid to the universe of worry. Reality, which isn’t just French social theory, says the currency value is wildly appreciating. Those taking stock are sure to notice.

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