Oye

It’s 1929 all over again….

At this moment the Dow is dropping into the 8,000 range, down from over 14,000 a year ago.

Globally we are headed for a recession or worse.

And the media companies are starting to shed jobs like crazy. It’t only the beginning.

Local TV stations are cutting staffs. Newspapers from The NY Times to the LA Times are cutting their staff.

This will only continue.

The good news, if there is any,  is that in economic hard times, people watch more TV… and now, online video.

(They have nothing else to do, frankly).

Radio, the web of the 1920s – a technological revolution in content creation and delivery, boomed between 1929 and 1939.

How do you prepare yourself for the sure to come hard times?

One way is to make yourself as indispensable to management as possible.  One way to do that is to be able to do as many jobs as possible in the process of ‘content creation’ – content being the lifeblood of media, and the last place to get cut.  Surely, when the scythe comes out, those who can shoot, cut, edit, write and produce content on their own are less likely to go than those who can only do one of those tasks.

If a broadcaster (or webcaster) can put content on the air on or line with fewer people on the payroll, that is what they are going to do.

And encouragingly, (at least so far), cutbacks at newspapers and magazines going to video online have not cut their online video staffs.  They are, at least at this moment, a seeming lifeline for newspapers and magazines to a better future, and they seem to be holding sacrosanct.  Particularly if the cost of producing that video is as low as possible.

There is no question that there are hard times coming.

Prepare yourself.

Cost cutting is no longer an abstraction. Radical cost cutting.

It is going to become very very real.

Michael Rosenblum

For more than 30 years, Michael Rosenblum has been on the cutting edge of the digital video journalism revolution. During this time, he has lead a drive for video literacy, and the complete rethinking of how television is made and controlled. His work has included: The complete transitioning of The BBC's national network (UK) to a VJ-driven model, starting in 2002. The complete conversion of The Voice of America, the United State's Government's broadcasting agency, (and the largest broadcaster in the world), from short wave radio to television broadcasting and webcasting using the VJ paradigm (1998-present). The construction of NYT Television, a New York Times Company, and the largest producer of non-fiction television in the US. Rosenblum was both the founder and President of NYT TV, (all based on this paradigm (1996-1998). The President and Founder of Video News International, a global VJ-driven newsgathering company, with more than 100 journalists around the world. (1993-1996). Other clients include Spectrum News, Verizon and CBS News.

4 Comments
  • Luglio October 11, 2008

    “War Is A Racket” so is this …..

  • rosenblumtv October 10, 2008

    Switzerland looks good to me.

  • eb October 10, 2008

    No advice on where to put your money?
    That’s what we really need. 😉

  • $ October 10, 2008

    Hard times equal opportunity.

    Cost cutting does not scare me.

    And with more opportunities, my skills give me more options for employement.

    Being currently employed is a plus.

    Putting me above others who have never been employed or produced a product which generated revenue.

    I liked your post today Mr. Rosenblum.

    We both see the economy the same way.

    Where we differ may be how it all shakes out.

    Those that have been generating revenue still have the advantage.

    In times like these, people look for stability.

    Not “new and unproven”.

    Just having an outlet, with no pay in return, does not equal success to the individual.