Crisis and Opportunity for Traditional Media in the Age of all Media

Yahong Cao

Taylors College Sydney, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Keywords: Traditional Media, New Media Era, Challenges, Opportunities.

Abstract: Nowadays, the question of where traditional media should go in the all-media era of the booming of self-

media has received widespread attention. This paper analyses the history of media development and the

challenges and opportunities of traditional media in the all-media era. This paper analyses that even in the all-

media era, traditional media still has a very important significance and irreplaceable role. Based on this, this

paper puts forward the following suggestions. Firstly, actively conform to the trend of media development in

the current era, integrate into the development of the times, and play the irreplaceable key role of traditional

media in the era of all media. Second, the flexible use of scientific and technological development to empower

the development of traditional media. Third, constantly improve the professionalism and vision of traditional

media news practitioners, and promote the development of the industry with the progress of talents.

1 INTRODUCTION

Today's era is an era of rapid development of media

technology. With the progress of science and

technology, people's ideology and living habits have

changed greatly, nowadays, very few people will rely

on newspaper subscriptions to learn about current

political news or events around them, and with the

change of programme broadcasting time and

programme interaction, very few people will stay in

front of the TV to wait for punctual TV programmes,

and the leading fashion is no longer the popular

magazines or posters (Li, 2024). Short videos are

inherently irreplaceable in terms of affinity and

convenience, and they are also highly interactive,

which is a great departure from the overall style of

traditional media, as if people have become

accustomed to turning on their mobile phones at any

time and opening the short-video software, to learn

about the news of the moment in the most convenient

and fastest way (Wang, 2025). The once-popular

traditional media such as newspapers and TV seem to

be approaching their twilight. Under such a social

background, this paper would like to analyse the

history of media development, count the challenges

and opportunities of today's era, and jointly study the

development challenges and opportunities of

traditional media in the era of all media.

2 MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

HISTORY

In this section, this paper will review the history of

media development, starting from the four aspects of

paper media, radio, television, and all media to sort

out the history of media development.

2.1 Paper Media Era

Although the newspaper is a modern product, the

origin of the newspaper can be traced back to the

ancient Roman period when there has been written on

the board of daily news, mainly used to announce

government decrees and other information, can be

regarded as the early prototype of the newspaper.

Similarly, in the Tang Dynasty of China, the Di Pao,

which was used to disseminate court news and

governmental developments to officials around the

country, can also be regarded as the prototype of

newspapers. It is easy to see that the earliest

newspapers were single-purpose, monotonous

narrowly disseminated, and did not have strong

communication properties.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Europe

appeared in the regular printing and publication of

news newspapers, such as the German notice - report

or newspaper. Newspapers in this period gradually

changed from hand-copying to printing and covered

Cao, Y.

Crisis and Opportunity for Traditional Media in the Age of all Media.

DOI: 10.5220/0013985900004916

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Public Relations and Media Communication (PRMC 2025), pages 56-61

ISBN: 978-989-758-778-8

a wider variety of content, including but not limited

to business and social news.

Under the impetus of the Industrial Revolution,

the cost of printing continued to decrease and the

efficiency of distribution continued to increase, so

newspapers became more and more popular. The

famous British newspaper "The Times" was born and

its influence expanded, becoming an important

channel for the public to obtain information. During

this period, the types and contents of newspapers also

became more and more abundant. There were

different types of newspapers, such as political party

newspapers and commercial newspapers, which

covered many fields such as politics, economy culture

etc. Since the 20th century, with the rise of radio and

television, traditional newspapers have been

impacted.

2.2 The Radio Era

In the early 1920s, with the birth of radio, radio news

also appeared. Due to the limited technical

conditions, the radio news at that time simply

broadcast some news, such as current affairs news,

announcements, etc., the broadcast form was

relatively single, the content was not rich enough, and

the broadcast time was short, low frequency. But this

opened the door for people to get news information

through radio.

In the 1930s, with the continuous development of

broadcasting technology, the quality of radio news

has improved. The emergence of live interviews

delivered more actual situations to the audience, the

depth and breadth of coverage have been expanded,

and the news programmes gradually fixed the

broadcast time, to cultivate a fixed group of listeners.

In the 1950s, broadcasting equipment was

continuously improved and optimised, and the

process of radio news gathering, editing and

broadcasting became more mature and standardised.

Feature news, commentary news and other forms

have emerged, more thorough analysis of major

events, and more diverse perspectives, while paying

more attention to language expression and

broadcasting style. During this period, broadcast

news became an important channel for the public to

learn about domestic and international events.

Since the 1980s, in the face of the impact of

television, the Internet and other new media, radio

news actively transformed, and continues to occupy a

place in the field of news dissemination.

2.3 Television Era

In the 1930s, when television was just emerging, TV

news also began to sprout. Initially, the form of a

single, mostly static picture, and short broadcast time

and low frequency, and a relatively limited scope of

dissemination. With the progress of television

technology, television news is in the content and form

of expansion. There was the collection of live images,

and relatively complete coverage of major events, and

the length and frequency of broadcasting have

increased, gradually becoming one of the important

channels for people to obtain news information.

From the 1970s to the 1980s, satellite

communication technology was applied to the field of

television news, making cross-country and cross-

region news gathering and dissemination more timely

and convenient, and news timeliness was greatly

enhanced. Forms such as in-depth reports and feature

stories continued to emerge, and news events could

be analysed in depth from multiple angles.

Since the 1990s, with the development of digital

technology, Internet technology and other

developments, TV news has gone digital and high-

definition. Continuously make efforts in the

integration of development, interaction and

cooperation with new media platforms, launch new

forms such as webcasting, short video news, etc.,

while focusing on audience interaction and

experience, the content production is more

sophisticated and diversified, and endeavour to

maintain its influence in the new communication

environment.

2.4 All-Media Era

From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, the Internet

gradually became popular, and traditional media

began to explore the transformation of the network,

newspapers have an electronic version, radio and

television also try to build websites to disseminate the

content of the programmes, news dissemination is no

longer confined to the traditional paper, airwaves and

other single channels, some news media began to try

to produce simple web page news, initially opening

the way to the exploration of the fusion of a wide

range of media communication.

The rapid development of new media technology

and the rise of social media make news dissemination

more instant, for example, news media stationed on

social platforms, can quickly release news and

communicate with the audience. At the same time,

network video platforms are also on the rise, and

news media are beginning to try new forms such as

Crisis and Opportunity for Traditional Media in the Age of all Media

short videos and webcasts, further enriching

communication channels and presentation forms.

From 2020 to the present, new technology

concepts such as meta-universe and virtual reality

have emerged, and news communication continues to

explore new ways of playing and pays more attention

to precision in communication concepts to meet the

personalised needs of different audience groups,

continuously expanding the boundaries of the news

and enhancing the communication effect and

influence.

3 CHALLENGES

Through the history of media development, it is easy

to see that, in fact, the process of human development,

is always accompanied by media replacement and

upgrading. Every technological progress is also

accompanied by great challenges and new

opportunities. In this paper, this paper will analyse the

challenges faced by traditional media in today's era

with the continuous development of all media from

three aspects: the change of media forms, the progress

and iteration of the audience and the expansion of

news practitioners.

3.1 Changes in Media Format

From the point of view of information dissemination

carriers, the popularity of the Internet and mobile

terminals has made information dissemination no

longer limited to traditional paper, airwaves and so

on. The new media platform relies on mobile phones,

tablets and other devices, and it is more convenient

for people to obtain information. Traditional media,

such as newspapers, magazines and other print media,

have seen a decline in circulation and advertising

revenue, as users prefer to get instant information

through mobile news clients. The way of information

dissemination in the era of new media has produced

great changes, and airwave media such as radio and

television are facing the diversion of audiences. New

media realise instant interactive communication,

users are not only information receivers but also can

become communicators, participating in content

dissemination through comments, retweets and so on.

Traditional media are mostly one-way

communication, such as TV stations broadcasting

programmes and newspapers, and it is difficult to

receive a large number of audience feedback and

make adjustments promptly as new media do. In

terms of the form of content presentation, new media

integrates text, pictures, audio, video and other forms,

more vivid and rich. Traditional media are limited by

their own media forms, for example, newspapers

mainly focus on text and pictures and have obvious

disadvantages in presenting dynamic information and

multimedia integration.

3.2 Progress and Iteration of Audience

The breadth and speed of new media information

dissemination make the audience's demand for media

information dissemination continue to improve. In the

face of the audience's demand for timeliness,

popularity and depth, the development of traditional

media faces the following problems.

Firstly, while the base of the audience is

expanding, the cultural literacy and reading demand of

the audience is also increasing. News writers no longer

need to meet the reading needs of some intellectuals

as before. The audience is no longer satisfied with

superficial interviews and clichéd reports that repeat

existing conclusions, nor will they be satisfied with

news reports or feature interviews that are stuck in the

old rut and not able to keep up with the times.

Secondly, due to the development of science and

technology, people's access to information is much

faster than before, in the era of only paper media,

people may read the same day happening a week ago,

or even earlier news, and the era of all-media, at any

time and anywhere can be informed of the world's

affairs. Especially the development of live

broadcasting technology, almost breaking the

limitations of time and space, truly everyone in the

first scene, everyone is a witness. As a result, the

audience's demand for timeliness of news has

increased significantly.

In addition, the audience's progress is also

reflected in the fact that they no longer accept news

reports to a superior posture, and do purely output,

educational content. News reports can no longer be

stuck in the serious and objective, to ensure

authenticity and relationship at the same time, one

may want to add some entertainment and a sense of

intimacy, to obtain the majority of contemporary

audience interest in reading.

Due to the improvement of education level, the

vast majority of the audience on an objective event

will have their views and understanding, then if the

news report is only superficial one-sided, obviously it

is difficult to obtain the audience's conviction.

3.3 Sharp Drop in Economic Income

In the era of all-media, the reading volume to a certain

extent determines the survival of a media account or

media organisation, so how to catch the audience's

eyes, how to attract the audience to come to see the

PRMC 2025 - International Conference on Public Relations and Media Communication

media production of the report, will be the era of all-

media traditional media face a major challenge.

Advertising revenue is the most obvious part of

traditional media to be hit. There has been a major

shift in the placement strategies of advertisers, and

new media platforms have massive amounts of user

data that enable precision marketing. For example,

Internet companies can accurately push adverts to

target groups of users based on their browsing history,

consumption habits and other data. In contrast,

traditional media's audience groups are difficult to

pinpoint and the effect of advertising is harder to

measure. This has caused advertisers to shift a large

amount of their budgets from traditional media, such

as newspapers, magazines, television stations, and

radio stations, to new media platforms, resulting in a

significant decline in traditional media advertising

revenue (Wang, 2024).

Similarly, revenues from distribution and sales

channels of traditional media are also decreasing.

Taking newspapers and magazines as an example,

with the popularity of the Internet and mobile devices,

it is becoming more and more convenient for people

to obtain information. More users choose to turn to

electronic media than subscribe to paper publications.

The number of users subscribing to paper publications

has been decreasing year by year, and traditional sales

channels such as newsstands have been shrinking,

with a consequent decrease in sales revenue. At the

same time, in the new media environment, a lot of

content is disseminated free of charge through online

platforms, making it difficult for traditional media to

earn substantial income through content payment as in

the past.

Moreover, traditional media are facing many

difficulties in expanding new profit channels. New

media can make profits through a variety of innovative

ways, such as live streaming, knowledge payment,

bounty function and so on. Traditional media is

limited by its own system, technology and operation

mode, and it is difficult to quickly adapt to and carry

out these new profit-making businesses, which further

aggravates the situation of its sharp decline in

economic income.

3.4 Expansion of News Practitioners

The progress and iteration of the audience and the

continuous development of technology have likewise

stimulated the emergence of more and different news

media, leading to an unprecedented expansion of news

practitioners. It can be said that the all-media era is

also to some extent the era of universal media,

everyone has a smartphone, everyone can open their

own social media accounts, then everyone can follow,

re-comment, participate in the discussion, and even

publish news, write news, make videos, do features

and do interviews (Wang, 2012). The right to publish

hot topics is no longer the exclusive right of individual

news media organisations or news practitioners but

has become more popular in the hands of the people.

Compared to specialised newspapers or TV

stations such as self-media have greater advantages in

flexibility and entertainment, flexibility to decide the

time of release, decide the content of the selected

topics, for the time that happens around also has a

faster efficiency and speed.

The proliferation of self-publishing media has led

to a significant rise in the number of news

practitioners, and the channels of information

dissemination have become extremely diverse.

Numerous self-media people can quickly release

news, which poses a great challenge to traditional

media in terms of timeliness. For example, when an

emergency occurs, self-media people may be on the

scene, and can release news through mobile phones

for the first time, while traditional media need to go

through a series of processes, such as editing, and it is

difficult to compete with them in terms of speed.

The audience's attention is dispersed, users are

attracted by various self-media accounts, and the

traditional media's audience size and reading volume,

ratings, etc. are impacted. In today's era, the reading

volume determines the survival status of media to a

certain extent, and advertisers may turn to invest in the

field of self-media, affecting the revenue sources of

traditional media. Self-media people are more flexible

and personalised in their content style, compared to

traditional media where the content production

process is more strictly regulated and the style may

appear relatively homogeneous. In contrast to self-

published media, which are rapidly gaining popularity

among young audiences, traditional media are

struggling to attract young audiences and pursue

personalised expression.

The increase in the scale of news practitioners also

means that the pressure of competition in the news

industry is intensifying. This is one of the challenges

for traditional media in the all-media era.

4 OPPORTUNITIES AND

PRACTICES

4.1 Technological Development Brings

More Possibilities

People usually think that the main media

communication channel in today's era is short videos.

Crisis and Opportunity for Traditional Media in the Age of all Media

Many people call it the short video era. This paper

argues that with the emergence of new ways of

communication, the old ways of communication have

not been eliminated, on the contrary, as the new

media continue to develop and mature, the old media

are also constantly upgrading and progressing.

Different media journalists or news organisations

work together to make the news report an all-round,

three-dimensional presentation, together into today's

all-media era.

Technological advances have upgraded

traditional media in terms of content production tools.

For example, high-definition cameras, professional

audio recording equipment, and advanced image

editing software allow traditional media such as TV

stations and newspapers to produce higher quality

content, provide viewers with an ultra-high-definition

visual experience, and enhance the attractiveness of

the content (Huang, 2023).

Traditional media can use social media platforms

to expand their communication channels. Many

newspapers and TV stations have opened official

accounts on social platforms such as Weibo and

WeChat.For example, the microblog account of

People's Daily has a huge fan base, and by releasing

news information, commentary articles and other

content, it breaks through the distribution limitations

of traditional paper newspapers, develops the paper

media to the network, and spreads news to a wider

range of people. Similarly, major TV stations have

launched video broadcasting APPs one after another,

allowing users to watch TV programmes on their

mobile phones anytime and anywhere, increasing

programme exposure and audience stickiness.

Using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality

(AR) technology, traditional media can bring

audiences a new immersive experience. For example,

in some historical and cultural reports, newspapers or

TV stations can produce AR content to make readers

or viewers feel as if they were in the historical scene,

greatly improving the interest and attractiveness of

the content.

4.2 The Authority and Responsibility of

Official Media

In the era of all-media information is complicated, the

official traditional media, with its long-accumulated

professional editorial team and strict audit

mechanism, can ensure the authenticity and accuracy

of the news, and become a reliable source for the

public to obtain authoritative information. When

major events and policies are released, official media

have the responsibility and obligation to provide in-

depth interpretation and commentary to guide the

public to correct understanding (Huang, 2024). Using

a variety of new media platforms, official traditional

media can break through geographical and time

constraints, expand the scope and influence of public

opinion guidance, correct erroneous public opinion

promptly, gather social consensus, even if it corrects

rumours arising from the looser management of self-

media as well as the lack of professionalism and weak

legal awareness of the relevant self-media operators

(Li & Cen, 2016), and create a positive and healthy

public opinion environment.

Traditional media carry rich cultural connotations

and historical memories, and in the all-media era have

the opportunity to better inherit and promote excellent

traditional culture and enhance national cultural

confidence through innovative forms and channels

(Wang, 2023).

It can be seen that even in the all-media era,

traditional media still has an irreplaceable and

important role. How to better and deeper fulfil the

traditional media's duties in the all-media era is the

proposition of the times that news practitioners and

media institutions need to constantly think and try.

First of all, this paper should insist on content

innovation and quality improvement, digging into

valuable news materials, launching in-depth reports,

series of reports, special reports, etc., and at the same

time focusing on the presentation of content, using

pictures, charts, audio, video and other elements to

enhance the attractiveness and readability of the

content.

At the same time, it has continued to promote the

development of media integration, actively built an

all-media communication platform, realised the

sharing of resources and complementary advantages

among different forms of media, and formed an all-

round, multi-level communication matrix to improve

the efficiency and influence of communication. For

example, People's Daily has established new media

platforms such as People's Daily Network and

People's Daily Client, realising newspaper-network

integration.

4.3 Proactively Cater for the Trend of

the Times

It strengthens the sense of interaction and service,

interacts and communicates with audiences through

social media, online forums and other channels,

understands audience needs and feedback, responds

to social concerns promptly, and strengthens the

sense of participation and stickiness of the audience.

At the same time, it can also provide personalised

information services to meet the needs of different

audiences.

PRMC 2025 - International Conference on Public Relations and Media Communication

Cultivate an all-media talent team, strengthen the

training of traditional media practitioners in new

media skills, and cultivate all-media talents who

possess both solid professionalism in journalism and

master new media technology and operation

concepts, to provide talent support for the integrated

development of media (Jing, 2024).

Explore the creation of traditional media

advertising management branding, enhance social

and economic benefits, shape and maintain the media

brand image, introduce Internet technology and

computer equipment to optimise the advertising

design process and innovate advertising solutions,

strengthen cooperation with new media platforms,

open official accounts, innovate in content

management, absorb market opinions, strengthen the

ability to create, and enhance communication with

viewers and audiences (Ge, 2022)

5 CONCLUSION

Summarising the contents of this paper, traditional

media in the era of all media is not without a place to

stand, nor will it eventually fall into the current of the

times and become a product of elimination. On the

contrary, this paper argues that although traditional

media have produced great changes and fluctuations

in the direction of development, they still play a vital

role in the strategic position of official authority

guaranteeing the accuracy of information, etc., and

adhering to the development of traditional media in

the era of all-media is a long-term topic for major

media and news producers. It is necessary to

constantly recognise the current situation, face the

challenges, actively adapt to the development of the

times, make use of the convenience of technological

development and other opportunities of the times, and

constantly explore the possibilities of traditional

media development in the era of all media.

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Crisis and Opportunity for Traditional Media in the Age of all Media