Media management studies meets new topics in digital era
In the media industry, new media based on internet and mobile internet technologies have been reshaping the media’s business and profit models. Photo: FILE
With the development of media convergence technology, the media industry in China has witnessed great change in its structures, quantities, technologies and management.
Shao Peiren, director and a professor of the Institute of Communication Studies at Zhejiang University, said that media industrial patterns have been constantly adjusting, and new management modes of media have been constantly introduced as technological advancement has accelerated. To be specific, the market share of traditional media in the media industry continues to decline, while new media based on internet and mobile internet technologies has taken a dominant position. Traditional media is faced with the decline of both the audience market and the advertising market. In contrast, new media is boldly innovating with its business models as the market expands.
As rapid technological progress has changed modes of communication and media’s value and profit, the sustainable development of media in China has also undergone profound changes in its basic logic, production mechanisms and management modes. Qi Yalin, executive dean and a professor of the School of Media at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said that in the context of media transformation, media management studies has produced fruitful results. Scholars have focused on media’s strategic transformation centered on media convergence. Intelligent and hypertext production management, the construction of omnimedia platforms and media convergence, the process reengineering of “Mobile First” and machine learning algorithms, value reshaping, industrial expansion, and technical management in the new media era have become valuable topics for research.
With the advancement of national media convergence strategies, the digital ecological environment will become the basic market environment in the era of omnimedia communication, transforming the situation facing media management. The development of digital and network technologies has largely changed the productivity and relations of production in the media industry. 5G technology will deepen the digital transformation of media. As almost everything can be interconnected and interpreted through media in this era, the research scope of media management has been greatly broadened, said Bu Yanfang, a professor from the School of Economics and Management at Communication University of China.
As of today, researchers of media management pay more attention to such research topics as platform media, digital economy and new models of media management bred by the new economy. Shao suggested a balance between social value and economic value for media management. Only by occupying enough share of the media market can Chinese media exert greater social impact; only by producing more positive social value can they obtain long-term economic benefits.
Huang Chuxin, a research fellow from the Institute of Journalism and Communication Studies at CASS, said that with the advance of the modernization of national governance systems and governance capabilities, structures of media management have transitioned from single government management in the past to diverse governance, including government, firms and the public. In addition, the development of the internet has generated such problems as cyber violence and fake news, making internet governance a prominent field of media management.
The internet has created challenges in media management quite different from those of the past, a matter which calls for the rebuilding of media management that is based on the internet, 5G and artificial intelligence. As the media industry is of both corporate and public natures, it should pay more attention to its social responsibilities. In addition, the development of media business models and profit models changes the content of media management—the declining status of advertising and the rising status of services are changing dissemination content and content structures, said Zhi Tingrong, dean and a professor of the School of Journalism and Communication at Jinan University.
The media industry has formed a new ecological pattern comprised of multiple factors including internet technology, user needs, capital force and government regulations, Bu added. As the process of digitalization and networking in various industries accelerates, demand for quicker and more high-quality information will continue to grow. The media will help promote the modernization of national governance systems and governance capabilities through its public opinion channel mechanisms, an important opportunity for the media to reshape its functions and value and for further research into media management.
Media convergence, a hot topic in the current media industry, requires further academic attention. Scholars should not merely examine traditional media forms such as newspapers and television, instead they should be fully inspired by the development of the internet and its logic, Zhi concluded. We can draw on related findings of economic management, computer science and other disciplines. In addition, we should focus on the study of business platforms, especially large-scale internet media, transforming effective empirical knowledge of media management into theoretical knowledge.
edited by YANG LANLAN