The Brave New World of Multimedia Convergence.

• Author: SALTZMAN, JOE
• Position: Brief Article

CONVERGENCE. MULTIMEDIA. MEDIA SYNERGY. The idea of the new century comes with a variety of innocent labels conveying a single conspiratorial idea: One media company sending out its collection of news to the public through a variety of media 24 hours a day. This is the opposite end of the media spectrum where different companies own different pieces of the media. Instead, in this brave new world of news and information, one company would own the city's major newspaper, television station, radio station, and multimedia website. The news is gathered and processed by the same news staff and distributed over the airwaves, through cables, printing presses, cyberspace, and satellite.

Multimedia convergence among newspapers, TV and radio stations, and websites is the new buzzword in the hails of the media conglomerates now owning most of the news media. It's the planning model for the Tribune Co., the New York Times Co., Gannett Co., Inc., and any other media conglomerate interested in owning the 21st century. While all of this makes perfect business sense--getting the maximum use of raw data through multiple submissions to various media--it doesn't do much to alleviate the fears about corporate monopolies owning most of the news media that supply information to the American public. Incestuous corporate couplings such as the recent AOL-Time Warner merger or the Tribune Co.'s purchase of the Los Angeles Times means that more and more of the same information is being fed to the public through the same national and local media. Diversity suffers. If successful, virtually no competition is left in city after city as one gigantic source becomes the primary source--and often the only source--of information. The potential for corruption is enormous since traditional checks and balances are gone.

When a city boasts several independent newspapers, a separate group of independent television and radio stations, and various websites under individual ownership, the competition and individuality create an environment in which information from different sources comes to the public in different packages, complexities, persuasions, colors, and textures. When one company repackages its information for print, broadcast, and the Web, it is basically the same information, reported and edited by the same person or persons. Even in the best cases, when everyone involved is a conscientious journalist trying to do a good job, there is no competitive look at the story, no...