Joe Annotti

Two legislative bills that stand to protect newspapers from Big Tech’s power to dominate advertising currently hang in the balance. Here’s a closer look at why they were written, where they stand today, why they’re imperative to the future of the already-shaken newspaper industry — and why the midterm elections may hold the key to newsrooms’ ultimate survival.

Broadcast and print news organizations have for the past years found themselves in an employers’ market, able to pay talented young journalists in both small and larger markets low salaries for long hours. But reporters are quickly learning they can make more money and experience less stress in related fields, and many are leaving journalism, or moving to new types of news platforms. How can news-gathering organizations hang on to talent, which these employers need to remain competitive?

While the war in Ukraine disrupted a number of cyber threat groups and the world was fooled into thinking cyberattacks were declining, cybercriminals have reorganized, are on the rise and show no sign of slowing again. Here’s some very tactical, practical advice and information media executives should consider as they’re forced to ramp up protections against cyber threats.

The metaverse is quickly beginning to take shape, and media will play a significant role in using it to engage customers and create new business models. This “Second Life 2.0” offers abundant opportunities for broadcasters to carve out a slice of the metaverse revenue pie. MFM’s Annual Conference featured a plethora of sessions on the metaverse; here’s a cross-section of the array of information shared by scores of experts at the May 2022 event.

Now commanding 28% of all video viewing time, over-the-top services have exploded in popularity. Borrell Associates found that they Increased from just 13.7% of all locally spent advertising in 2021, with more than a third of local media managers calling OTT their hottest-selling digital product. Find out why OTT is commanding such rapidly growing attention — and an equally growing piece of local advertising spend — and why OTT players like YouTube and TikTok are likely to take an increasing piece of the ad pie.

Media companies seeking to expand their presence are turning to podcasting as a great way to attract advertisers and solidify their brands. As podcast listenership continues on an explosive trajectory, advertisers are following, media companies are acquiring and investing, and more local companies are getting on board to take part in this disruptive, creative medium.

Highly regarded macroeconomist Diane Swonk provided a keynote address at MFM’s recent annual conference. While just a few months ago the media industry was pivoting to a revamped, brighter future, storm clouds in the form of rapid inflation, a potential recession and the ongoing impact of food shortages and supply chain disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine appear to have at least temporarily derailed those plans.

The media industry is evolving to a hybrid workforce model, with some companies offering their employees to continue to work remotely full time. How do managers keep their staff motivated when they aren’t able to interact in person? Today’s leaders need to shift their mindsets and take new approaches to building and maintaining highly functional teams.

TV and radio stations had to contend with large losses during the pandemic, between the absence of political revenue and the nearly non-existent live sports and automobile categories. Then, sports betting came along, offering salvation for many broadcasters. But will state-by-state regulations and other issues hamper its promise of replenishing local broadcasters’ coffers lost during the pandemic?

As the U.S. grapples with inflation set into motion by the pandemic, the war in Ukraine has exacerbated the problem. All is not lost, however. A top D.C. economist helps unravel the complicated factors surrounding inflation by examining the history and causes of, and cures for, what may feel like an economy spiraling out of control.

Confirmation bias is our propensity to cherry-pick information that confirms our existing beliefs or ideas. It’s how two people with opposing views on a topic can see the same evidence and come away feeling validated by it. Failing to interpret information in an unbiased way can lead to serious misjudgments, but by understanding this tendency, we can learn to identify it in ourselves and others — and to face our fears around it.

As Russia continues its attack on Ukraine, the suffering of its citizens and damage to the concept of democracy is playing out via broadcast and the internet. The media industry has joined much of the world in its response to Russia’s bullying, with media and tech companies throughout the U.S. stepping up and enforcing a variety of sanctions and taking other actions against the superpower in an effort to stop a madman.

The temptation to get a leg up on rivals by trying to trademark a URL seems like a more solid gamble these days, thanks to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. While one well-known online travel company single-handedly turned the tide, it might be a trickier proposition for media companies looking to do the same.

Between legalized sports betting, political advertising, retransmission fees and an overall economic bump and as the U.S. emerges from the nearly two-year-old pandemic, television and radio broadcasters will both regain lost momentum — though at different rates and for different reasons. It’s all cause for optimism.