Economist highlights media's lack of reaction to the web in Brazil.
This week's edition of the British magazine points to the difficulties faced by traditional print media groups in Brazil in adapting to the revolution caused by the internet; the publication highlights layoffs at Abril, Estado de S. Paulo, and Folha, and the Brazilian reader's preference for online information; interviewed for the report, Jaime Sirotksy (left), from Zero Hora, says the sector is "in the middle of a storm"; unable to understand the new times, Ricardo Gandour (right), from Estado de S. Paulo, says that the fragmentation of information can be detrimental to democracy; editors are lost.
247 - The crisis in print media in Brazil is serious. And it is portrayed in this weekend's edition of the British magazine The Economist – the same magazine that has been frequently cited by the mainstream press because of its constant criticism of economic policy in Brazil.
According to the British publication's analysis, traditional media in Brazil have failed to adapt to the revolution caused by the internet. According to The Economist, half of Brazilian households already have internet access, and Brazilian readers prefer to consume information online. Another factor highlighted by the magazine is that Brazil is already the second most important base for Facebook in the world, having recently surpassed India – proving that readers also "enjoy" sharing information.
This aspect makes the sector's crisis even more serious, since traditional newspapers are progressively closing their content – which is incompatible with the logic of online sharing. In its report, The Economist highlights the layoffs in traditional groups such as Abril, Folha, and Estado de S. Paulo. In the city of São Paulo alone, 270 cuts have been announced, and others are on the way.
Two editors from traditional media outlets were also interviewed, but they offered no solutions. Jayme Sirotsky, from the Zero Hora group and former president of the National Association of Newspapers, said that the sector is "in the middle of a storm." Ricardo Gandour, editor of Estado de S. Paulo, seemed lost, stating that the fragmentation of information – that is, its democratization – could be detrimental to democracy.
The report also highlighted that online advertising, which currently represents 14% of the total, is expected to grow even more in the coming years, taking market share from newspapers and magazines.
Below is the article in English from The Economist:
Publishing in Brazil
Folding papers
As the middle class embraces online media, newspapers are struggling
July 13, 2013 | Rio de Janeiro |From the print edition
IN ITS offices on the Tietê river, Editora Abril, a sprawling publishing empire, displays its 53 glossy titles across the wall like a winning hand of cards. But the hand is about to shrink. Roberto Civita, Abril's boss, died in May, catching the family-run firm off guard. Already facing declining revenues, last month Abril announced it would fire a handful of senior editors and merge its ten publishing divisions into five. Analysts speculate that at least ten loss-making magazines and as many as 1,000 editorial jobs may be axed in the next few months. “The building is trembling,” says one marketing executive.
April is not alone. In June the Folha de São Paulo, the country's largest daily, sacked 24 staff, 6% of the total. Its rival, The state of Sao Paulo, has been hit, too. After the death in May of its director, Ruy Mesquita, the paper cut 50 jobs. Its sister paper, the Jornal da Tarde, which stood up to the military dictatorship that ran from 1964-85, folded last year. The crisis is estimated to have claimed 280 jobs in São Paulo alone this year. “We're in the middle of a storm,” says Jayme Sirotsky, the former president of the World Association of Newspapers. “Everyone is trying to produce quality news content and still stay profitable in a hostile environment.”
Newspapers have scrambled to put their content on the web. Yet many readers prefer scouting social media to browsing the digital versions of conventional papers and magazines. Last year Brazil overtook India to become the world's second-largest user of Facebook, after the United States. Advertisers have taken note. Instead of flogging their brands on news websites, they are pouring money into Facebook and Google. Once negligible, digital advertising now represents 14% of total ad spending and is growing fast, according to the Brazilian chapter of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), an industry body.
To complicated matters, web-based news is scattered among portals, blogs and aggregator sites that cannibalize conventional news sources. And fidelity is history. “Online, people consume news the way they snack, sampling this and that from many dishes,” says Marcelo Lobianco, chief executive of the IAB. Journalists say (unsurprisingly) that quality has suffered. “You have to worry that the extreme fragmentation of communications cannot be healthy for democracy,” says Ricardo Gandour, editor of The state of Sao Paulo.
In part, publishers papered themselves into a digital corner. When online media emerged, newsprint was king and magazines and newspapers simply dumped their content on the web and sold advertising for a song. “Banners were cheap and news publishers practically gave away ad space on their websites,” says Luiz Nogueira, head of Simples, a digital-media company. Persuading advertisers to pay more has proven difficult.
Tellingly, the street protests that swept Brazil last month were organized online, as they were in Egypt and Turkey. News media, at first slow to pick up the story, often became targets of the protesters. “We are seen as the establishment,” says Mr Sirotsky. Even so, it seems the young radicals are not yet ready to give up on old media: when asked how they found out what was happening, six out of ten protesters said they turned to news sources such as Sheet, TV Globo and The state.