Miami, (July 26, 2021) - The revaluation of journalistic content during the pandemic should encourage the media to invest in technology and shift with determination to new platforms to make their content viable. Such conclusions emerged from the SIPConnect 2021 conference held virtually July 20-23 with the participation of 52 speakers and more than 900 attendees from 22 countries.
The two main technology platforms, Google and Facebook, made announcements in scoop; Google announced the winning media of the Google News Initiative Challenge for Latin America and Facebook announced the expansion of its Video Business Accelerator program to media in the region as part of its regional strategy for the Facebook Journalism Project. The journalist and media observer, Mauricio Cabrera, also presented his book "Panmedials, the media of the pandemic."
Also during SIPConnect 2021, the Inter-American Press Association and the Facebook Journalism Program, addressed the results obtained so far by its Mentoring Program for the Growth of Audience and Digital Income in which 12 Mexican media participate.
SIPConnect, the annual digital conference of the SIP, is sponsored primarily by the Journalism program of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Also this year it received the support of Google, Facebook, Protecmedia, Marfeel, the EuropaPress agency, Grupo Sura, The New York Times, Grupo Bolívar and the Center for Latin America and the Caribbean (LACC) of Florida International University (FIU) .
The executive director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin, Rosental Alves, spoke about what the journalism industry can expect in the coming year and the Brazilian media consultant, Eduardo Tessler and the executive director of the SIP, Ricardo Trotti, listed some of the lessons learned during the conference.
In this sense, the three specialists agreed that the media should reconvert the traditional business models and regain their leadership in the use of technology, whether for metrics, market studies, and improve the relationship with the audience and embrace artificial intelligence.
The publication of newsletters to connect with all types of audiences and the improvement of new narrative tools such as videos and podcasts are also a fundamental part of the digital transformation.
Alves said that the hybrid work model is "the new normal" and that, in addition to paywalls, the media should also continue to try other monetization strategies such as memberships and nonprofit journalism. He recalled that as part of the engagement strategy, the readers or consumers of the media should feel like partners with the media and gave an example of the strategy of The Wall Street Journal.
All SIPConnect 2021 presentations can be viewed at the following link:
The IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 publications from the Western Hemisphere; and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.
IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 publications from the western hemisphere; and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.
