"I was sobbing hysterically. The rug had literally been pulled out from under my feet. I was falling and I didn't know where I was going to land. It’s a terrifying situation." That’s young journalist Rebecca Laffan describing the sense of shock and helplessness she felt when she lost her job at the Limerick Leader newspaper last month.
Head of journalism at TU Dublin Kate Shanahan already believes that Covid-19 is a game-changer for the media industry that has been hit by "the perfect storm".Ms Shanahan cites declining sales in print and a failure to pivot quickly enough to subscription and payment models as a huge problem. Domestically and globally, local news media outlets are experiencing the most acute effects of the current crisis and collapse in revenues."The difficulty is that their revenue declines even quicker because of their dependence on local smaller advertisers. Their revenue has gone down by around 70%."
He predicts that some of the "legacy players" in print and television are in major trouble as they are in a race against time to figure out how they can successfully move online. He said: "In Europe for example there is about 145% growth in subscriptions for online since January. The United States has had 100% growth."However, Professor Littau believes the overall increase in subscriptions could accelerate print media companies shifting towards an online delivery format. This could offer them long term sustainability.Domestically The Journal Media group has put out a call for contributions from readers in recent days.
Like most other Irish media organisations RTÉ was in a precarious financial position before this crisis and the future outlook for the broadcaster is uncertain.
ConorMcMorrow I missed this on radio. Can you listen to it on podcast?
ConorMcMorrow Most of the msm is complete rubbish anyway, time to clear out the garbage and start anew.
ConorMcMorrow DontBuyTheSun
ConorMcMorrow This is a fantastic chance to break the scum redtops like daily mail ,sun,star and mirror. We can get rid of these poisonous lying rags and forever rid ourselves of celebrity gossip and crap writing. come on people make it happen dont buy them. toiletpaper
ConorMcMorrow Thousands dying. Journalists most affected.
ConorMcMorrow Eh... not news worthy, no?!👇