The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting kicks off in Davos today, with much on the agenda for media… and much of the agenda already making the media headlines. Meanwhile, the Reuters Institute has given its predictions on media tech in 2023, as Google brings theory into practice good and early this year, with a serious round of layoffs. So no Harry of Windsor or Elon of Twitter adorning the cover this week… we’ve got serious matters to attend to…
Shaping the future of media, entertainment, & sport
“I think sometimes people look at media and think of it as pretty pictures or tough stories,” says Kristine Stewart, Head of Shaping the Future of Media at the World Economic Forum. “But ultimately media is a business. And running the business of media takes a lot of foresight. We’ve seen an immense amount of disruption, we’ve seen that business models are broken, and media as an industry is probably one of the first to go through massive digital disruption. Without a strong ecosystem, you cannot sustain that kind of change.”
The 2023 WEF annual meeting will look at a number of key issues in the sector, including defining and building the metaverse, economic and social value creation, and global digital safety. This year’s convening comes at a time of significant geopolitical uncertainty and scepticism surrounding globalisation in what FT Journalist, Gideon Rachman, calls ‘the world Davos made.’
‘The Magic Mountain,’ he writes, ‘Thomas Mann’s classic novel set in Davos against the backdrop of a deadly disease and an impending world war, was published almost a century ago. But, as World Economic Forum delegates gather again in Davos this year, Mann’s world feels uncomfortably close to our own. The fear haunting the WEF is that a long period of peace, prosperity and global economic integration could be coming to a close — just as it did in 1914.’
For a media industry that has itself helped shape the global dialogue around greater collaboration, we of course hope this is not the case. But at a time when one is already forced to get their Squid from Netflix, and Ratatouille from Disney, this year’s conference theme of ‘Cooperation in a Fragmented World’ is clearly a relevant one.
Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2023
For predictions emanating more centrally from within Mediaville, look no further than the report published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, from the hallowed halls of the University of Oxford last week. Here, a mere glance at the executive summary alone underlines why we have left the consumer-side frivolity of a Harry or an Elon off this week’s cover:
‘This will be a year of heightened concerns about the sustainability of some news media against a backdrop of rampant inflation, and a deep squeeze on household spending. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the increasingly destructive impact of global warming, along with the after-effects of the Covid pandemic have created fear and uncertainty for many ordinary people. In these conditions journalism has often thrived, but the depressing and relentless nature of the news agenda continues to turn many people away.’
Layoffs at Google
The Reuters report goes onto look at the challenging economic climate for the media tech sector in particular, and that is this week emphasised by layoffs at Google parent-company, Alphabet. We’ve known for some time now of the company’s intentions to streamline its workforce, and those intentions have at the start of 2023 begun to turn into practice.
Alphabet subsidiary Intrinsic AI is reported by a number of outlets this week to have cut 20% of its workforce, amounting to some 40 employees. This comes on the back of recent cuts at other Alphabet subsidiary, Verily, which last week cut 240 roles amounting to 15% of its workforce.
While these figures may not necessarily seem huge by way of raw numbers, they do reflect more worrying macro-economic conditions for the company right now. At the end of last year, it was widely reported that Google/Alphabet could be seeking to release up to 10,000 employees over the coming months, joining the likes of Twitter, Meta and Amazon in BIG tech downsizing.
From Davos to Davros
But there is still hope on this week’s cover, on a day which we must remember has been deemed by modern UK folklore to be the most depressing of the year. Because one evil genius who is unlikely to be downsizing his robotics building operation anytime soon is Davros, Creator of the Daleks and perpetual thorn in the side of Doctor Who…
And in 2023, that Doctor will be portrayed by a black actor for the first time in the show’s 60yr history. Who, you might ask? Ncuti Gatwa, a Kigali-born Rwandan-Scottish actor who rose to fame on Netflix comedy-drama, Sex Education. Gatwa takes over from Jodie Whittaker, whose 4yr stint as the Doctor represents the first ever portrayed by a female.
It’s another positive sign for the global media industry, which continues to lead the way in its emphatic efforts to bring greater diversity, equality, and inclusion to our screens.
Magazine corner
And of course, what’s a cover without a magazine? As the old, just this second invented, saying goes… In further reflection of the changing media scene, it’s reported today that Vogue is to reduce its annual print editions from eleven down to ten. Since 2020, the Conde Nast publication has seen its June and July editions combined into a single issue, and the same will likely now happen in the winter months.
And evolutions in the traditional magazine format are not done yet, as TechCrunch reports here. The new E Ink Gallery 3, a prototype of which was showcased at CES last week, may be the technology that finally recreates the coveted print magazine experience in digital format. ‘There’s still nothing quite like thumbing the pages of a real-life print magazine,’ writes TechCruch Reporter, Harri Webber, ‘but the latest evolution of E Ink’s color tech is creeping tantalizingly close — at least as far as my eyes are concerned.’
Quite like the sound of the E Ink… because it’s IN press, ON line!