The problem of financing print media

It’s no secret that print media is drastically losing readers and therefore the problem whether print media will be taken away from us soon is a current highly debated question. Comparing print media and the internet it’s clear that the internet has taken over and is gaining more and more followers every day. Like people tend to read books on their e-readers or smartphones, they prefer to read articles or the news online instead of buying actual newspaper or magazines.

Is there a solution for financing print media?

Print media is financed mostly by advertisement and subscriptions. Since advertising agencies prefer to spend their money on ads online the print media has to find a strategy to sell more and get the advertisers back on their side. If the advertisers cannot be convinced to keep on finance print media, the government might be able to help. With subsidies from the government print media can probably survive.

An additional idea might be to try to attract readers with certain offers. I’ve actually seen a couple of offers at the airport while traveling. For example buy a certain newspaper and get a water for free with it. Another common problem is the quality of the writing, or rather the degree of truth. People tend to question the degree of truth and thus are not willing to spend money on certain tabloids or newspaper. Business magazines might be able to stay alive longer since the status of these readers is usually higher and they are willing to spend money.

The bottom line of it all is this; print media needs external help to survive in our ever changing modern technical world.

British and American media in German culture

Almost everyone on this earth nowadays knows what Neflix is. It is a webpage that allows us to watch TV-Shows and movies with high quality and for low money anytime and anywhere. Other than shows on television, where you get a movie with a lot of commercials every 20 minutes. In addition to that you can watch something on TV only at a specific time. This is one of the reasons why many people tempt to watch more shows on the internet than on television.

And what do we get to see on webpages like Netflix? American and British TV-series and movies.
America and Britain are everywhere. You can find them on your phones, radios, televisions and even on newspapers! There is no way to escape these forces. We are surrounded by social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other common used platforms. All inventions by the American. Besides the fact these online communications are brilliant and awesome, let us get to the fact why we German people do enjoy them so much.

Mostly the younger generation has a positive reaction towards these media influences. We do watch our shows in English, listen to English bands and we read our books in English. One reason for that is that we grew up within the time of the media evolution. And another reason is that everything is internationalized these days. This means that there is an open gate to everyone who wants to be entertained in an easy way.

British and American media in Germany

It is probably true to say that British and American media is represented everywhere in Germany. And you might fairly ask, ´Why is that´? Well, firstly it is to say that English is the most significant universal language. Not only is it the most spoken language globally but also the language that is mostly applied in culture, science and economy.

Furthermore, you can find British and American material in every german bookstore, cinema, television, phone and radio. Another big part in all of our lives plays ´social media´. It is something that I grew up with and, in addition, is a medium of communication that gives you the chance to exchange ideas. It is often said that especially young people like to use ´social media´, whereas on the contrary, it is less common for older people.

However, I think people in Germany are generally receptive for media from Britain and America. They are waiting for the release of their new favourite book (written by an English author)

or music album (that is published by an English band) and next to it, they´re enjoying English concerts, television and radio shows. To conclude, I think that the growing importance of English language will increase even more over time and its development is important in terms of the globalization.

-Karla Dalibor- 

How to finance print media in the future...

Imagine this scenario: You are travelling by train, how many people around you are reading actual newspapers? Sure, some people still do but nowadays the majority reads the newspapers on their phones. It is just so much more comfortable, less expensive and it does not even require paper anymore, so it is more environmentally friendly as well. This development is the same all over the world. Sales figures are dropping globally and even prestigious newspapers are struggling to survive on the market.

The print industry must undergo changes in order to be able to compete with other forms of media. As opposed to the traditional format of newspapers made of paper, they need to focus on their appearance on the Internet. News need to be updated continuously and made immediately available everywhere. International events as well as common interests should continue to be featured to not lose readers in terms of content. But also, physical copies of the papers must still be printed because older generations still prefer this format even though the percentage is declining rapidly.

Similar strategies to stay afloat include building closer relationships with the readers to ensure their loyalty or new devices for accessing newspaper contents as, for example, E-Readers have done for books. On the other hand, they can make specific and more detailed content available for paying customers only, so a subscription must have been made beforehand. The print industry will continue to exist, just in in different forms from now on…

British and American media in German culture

The English language is, undoubtedly, the most important world language of present time. Not only has it the most speakers throughout the world, it is chiefly appointed by other world languages in the range of culture, science and economy.

Nowadays in Germany, particularly American and British content are of high significance to the public. Music, literature, movies and news service from the U.S. and the U.K. are pretty much a part of the German daily life and maybe get even more attention besides the domestic market. German bookshelves are enriched with authors like J.K. Rowling, Terry Pratchett, Erin Hunter and George R.R. Martin as well as the music collections beginning with Frank Sinatra and ending with The Clash.  German television offers a wide spectrum of stations from all over the world and BBC, CNN, TLC, Cartoon Network and many other channels became a matter of course in every household. German broadcasters, like pro7, RTL or kabel1, also show series, music, advertisement, fashion and news about American and British politics as well as famous Hollywood celebrities in their daily programs. 

My only complaint would be about the manner of selecting the American content on German TV programs, as TV is the common medium for news and entertainment for a broad audience of all ages. Unfortunately, they mainly show mainstream and superficial content. Further, shallowness in cultural topics, subjective and inflaming media coverage and aggressiveness in children’s programs predominate, although the rich American culture has so much more to offer than Hollywood headlines, sitcoms or Jimmy Fallon.
But thankfully, in this era, which is profoundly characterized by the nearly unlimited opportunities offered by the internet, we don’t depend on TV. Moreover, society enjoys the freedom of picking the information and media and to dive into the cultural richness of America and Britain as deeply as they want. That freedom entails a responsibility for every individual to distinguish between what is meaningful content, including cultural heritage, and what is mass production entertainment.

British and American media in German culture

Have you ever thought about where most of the books you read, movies you watch, and the music you listen to is coming from?

The German culture features a lot of British and American media. In books, movies, TV series, music, magazines – you’ll find British or American origin almost everywhere. Famous movie characters like James Bond or Luke and Leia are known throughout our country. Furthermore, a lot of American and British bestsellers, Harry Potter or Lord of The Rings for example, are popular and easy to buy here, they’re mostly translated but we are able to buy them English as well.

Germans thoroughly enjoy a lot of these foreign productions. Monty Python’s famous ‘Life of Brian’ is the same kind of gallows humor a lot of Germans share. Another great part is music. Trying to imagine our life without British and American music is impossible. The Beatles, Michael Jackson or Queen have a big fan base in Germany and helped shaping the music scene.

As a result, Germans started to adapt words of the English language. Anglicism were created and we use them daily.  Besides the adaption of the English language, the collection we have now is incredibly diverse. This is a privilege and makes us gain more knowledge even though some people get overwhelmed and don’t see the positivity about this wide range.

Besides, shouldn’t we all appreciate the huge selection we have in this country?