The Emergence of Convergence

Convergence. It’s the inevitable collision of analog and digital in the media world. It’s here now. it will be here for the foreseeable future. You need to get used to it and adapt.

Convergence. It’s the inevitable collision of analog and digital in the media world. It’s here now. it will be here for the foreseeable future. You need to get used to it and adapt.

Here’s how www.dictionary.com defines convergence:

con•ver•gence
–noun

1. an act or instance of converging.
2. a convergent state or quality.
3. the degree or point at which lines, objects, etc., converge.
4. Ophthalmology. a coordinated turning of the eyes to bear upon a near point.
5. Physics.
1. the contraction of a vector field.
2. a measure of this.
6. Meteorology. a net flow of air into a given region. Compare DIVERGENCE (def. 2).
7. Biology. similarity of form or structure caused by environment rather than heredity.

The Internet has redefined convergence in the media. All platforms—print, audio and video—have come together, and the news media have been forced to adjust.

Interviewing has reported more than once over past issues that, in many cases, newspaper reporters now are expected to carry video cameras with them so they can “feed” the Web site as well as the hard copy newspaper that comes to your driveway. Conversely, broadcast reporters are being required to get their stories online, as well as on the air, and in many cases, reporters from all quarters are being told to blog.

And, academia is responding in kind. For today’s journalism and communications schools students, it makes perfect sense. Their world is the Internet, so learning to bring the three vehicles of print, audio and video together is what they’re used to, anyway.

The world-renowned School of Journalism at the University o f Missouri added a Convergence sequence to its curriculum in the 2005-06 school year. Student demand at the Columbia campus far outstrips available seats each semester. Missouri’s journalism faculty and administration started their planning in 2003. A year later, bNet Research Center published an article on the emergence of convergence on campuses.

While it’s very difficult to discover just how many schools now offer convergence programs, in addition to Missouri and Northwestern, the list undoubtedly is growing. Some of the other schools found via Google: University of North Texas, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, University of South Florida, and Tech College of Communications in Lubbock, TX.

Used to be, sister radio and TV stations residing under the same roof were so territorial, they barely could work together. Today, they’d better be combining their resources since they need each other to feed this new beast on the World Wide Web.

And in the markets were newspapers have been grandfathered to keep the TV stations they owned before Uncle Sam regulated against these co-ownership deals, you probably find the two cooperating.

Richard Doak, a former Des Moines Register columnist who now lectures to journalist students, argues for the FCC to revoke the rule against cross-ownership. But, even if the Commission doesn’t (and there is evidence the republican majority there is leaning toward allowing cross-ownership), there’s nothing stopping strategic relationships. Radio and TV newsrooms should be partnered with a local daily.

An argument can be made that many markets are left with only one daily newspaper today, two at the most, while there are more broadcast news departments. Probably true. But, so is the fact that a newspaper that owns a TV (and radio) station in a market still limits the opportunities of print and broadcast partnering.

However, radio and TV newsrooms that are not owned by the same company also can combine their resources…in other words, converge strategically to help each other both on the air and on the Web and, where it pertains, counter the competitive advantages of a co-owned newspaper and broadcast outlets.

Convergence almost demands it.

Note: on November, 13, 2007, FCC Commission Chairman Kevin Martin proposed relaxing an agency rule to allow big-city newspapers to buy the smaller television stations in their markets, a move designed as a compromise in the ongoing issue of corporate control of the airwaves.

The proposal appeared to please almost no one -- the newspaper industry said it stopped short of helping the ailing print media and anti-consolidation groups said it went too far, with one calling it "yet another massive giveaway to big media."

Under Martin's plan, set for a commission vote Dec. 18, newspapers in the nation's 20-largest media markets could buy one radio or television station in their cities, if certain conditions apply. The station could not be among the four most-watched in the market, essentially preventing newspapers from buying popular stations affiliated with ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox.