At the Public Relations Institute of Australia’s National Conference in Sydney this week, keynote speaker, Lachlan Harris, suggested that the traditional news cycle was being replaced by the ‘opinion cycle’. As the former Senior Press Secretary to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and other senior politicians, Harris knows a few things about riding the news cycle.
While Harris still operates predominantly in the combative political environment, his observations resonated with many at the conference. His comments were picked up on the day by marketing industry online magazine, Mumbrella, who quoted Harris as saying:
“One of the most significant structural changes in the media landscape in the last five years has been the rise of the opinion cycle. The most underestimated change in the last five years is that the opinion cycle is now more important than the news cycle. In Australia in the last five years, news has been eclipsed by opinion.
“Now so much of the information we are exposed to has absolutely nothing to do with facts and nothing to do with news. In the opinion cycle, facts don’t matter. Arguments do.”
Those of us involved in creating thought leadership campaigns for our clients or organisations have always known the value of having an opinion on a topic, of having something different to say, of having a clear point of view. What is changing, suggests Harris, is that opinion now drives the media landscape, more than hard news. Rather than news driving the format (of TV and radio in particular), argument drives it – hence the popularity of talk-back radio or news ‘discussion’ programmes like the 7pm Project and the increasing propensity for comments attached to online news stories. Indeed, as online news editors know, a good argument drives a story’s popularity up the rankings. Social media encourages conversation and people want opinion and discussions, not dry facts.
This doesn’t mean we can ignore the news cycle, but it does mean the well established rules are evolving with new considerations entering the mix. According to Harris:
- Conflict has always been the major news value, but it should now be expected in every media opportunity
- Stories that divide community opinion get stuck in the news cycle, e.g. in Australia these are asylum seekers and climate change.
- Opinion based content – comments, tweets, blogs, leaders, are more powerful (and rank higher on search engines) than fact based news
- Editors will keep pushing opinions on a story that ranks high to push it higher, even if there are no new facts
In this environment, having a clear point of view – a position that is simple, original, insightful, objective and relevant to the community you are reaching out to – becomes more important than ever. We should also expect conflict – whether as an opposing perspective from another interviewee, or critical online comments – and prepare accordingly.