I thought I would be among the first to look into the crystal ball for 2007. Here's what I think will be the dominant trends for 07 in the media. Faith Popcorn, I am not.
Tim’s predictions for the world of media relations.
· First, the word media will become more encompassing, but the media itself will become more narrow, niche and specialized.
· More blurring between professional journalists and bloggers. Definition of journalism will continue dramatic evolution.
· Trade magazines will continue to thin—particularly in tech. Pubs will lose more ads to online pubs and other channels.
· Niche bloggers and podcasters will be the new vanguard in the media making PR professionals more essential but also making their job more difficult.
· A few major media companies will begin acquiring popular and influential blogs.
· Katie Couric will be fired and with it CBS will be the first network to completely abandon the nightly news.
· XM radio will be acquired by Sirius. Oprah’s XM program will be her first large public media failure.
· Traditional journalism venues seeking to compete against blogs and other channels, will abandon their supposed objectivity (which never existed in the first place).
· Investigative bloggers will start testing the limits of corporate and government controls on information.
· Private citizens will someday have their own PR people to help advance their personal causes.
· PR firms with strong specialties will be in high demand.