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Traditional media are losing the confidence of young people

17 December 2011 / 17:12:19  GRReporter
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A recent survey conducted by pollster "Kapa Research" and published in "To Vima" newspaper shows that confidence of young people in the printed press, but also in television, is particularly low. Only 22 percent support the printed press and 9 percent television.

These percentages absolutely oppose those for the confidence that young people have in the Internet where rates reach seven out of ten.

These data indicate a fundamental shift in the balance of power in the media that will have a decisive influence on political and social structures over the coming years.

Part of this behaviour of young people is that they do not ensure that a common constant change affects young people in a diachronic term, i.e. it is not at all certain that when young people grow up, they will change their habits.

On the contrary, from developments so far it seems more likely that they will just keep on with the same behaviour, and will gradually exert more influence on older people’s attitudes towards the printed media and television.

The presence or lack of confidence also affects not only the present use of different media, it also influences their future use, because Internet accessibility and speed are constantly increasing. It also influences the degree of social influence of the media. In practice this means that with time and when technology develops, the Internet will turn increased confidence into increased use and increased influence.

But how will this phenomenon affect political and social processes?

Increased confidence in the Internet boom means an increase of one interactive and diverse source of information, where even the biggest "players" have a small individual share and continuous and dynamic "supervision" by users. It also means the operation of absolutely uncontrollable sources of information where the major role is performed by consumers themselves (i.e. Twitter and Facebook).

This also means a possibility for people or organizations that are sources of information, to come into direct contact with the public opinion, without the recent dominance of mediation of traditional media.

All this leads to more independent, more fragmented, more critical and reserved societies, which will have to look for completely new ways of shaping social and political majorities, and to be durable. Traditional methods and methodologies (i.e. the front page and direct inclusion) will be less efficient.

Also these processes have consequences for traditional media themselves. Media which need to realize that restoring their credibility is not a luxury, but is now a prerequisite for survival. Given the competition of the Internet, printed media can compete only by the quality of their content. Without credibility and trust, however, quality will not bring results. The same goes for television. At a time when everyone is walking around with a camera in hand, the key is to create a realistic picture that is reliable and useful to the consumer, inundated bt the daily information flow.

Can traditional media in Greece achieve this? With today's mentality and perceptions, which have contributed significantly to the current situation of the country, this is impossible. If they change radically, they can succeed. For now, however, something like this does not seem to be happening.

Tags: Kapa Research internet media Greece print press television
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