PROOPINION
Doug Sheer.
People power
Our industry not only rises and falls on efficiency but also on savvy management, good content and quality engineering. In that regard, a trained and experienced workforce is essential for its growth A large number of the technological innovations being promoted in our industry today involve the elimination of jobs and are purposefully promoted that way. But, what’s wrong with creating professional jobs and sustaining a class of experienced and savvy broadcasting and production professionals? Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon has recently begun to promote the concept of using robotic drones to deliver packages to the doors of customers, thereby potentially eliminating FedEx, UPS or the postal system. Setting aside the futuristic wonder of such an approach, what does it say about the elimination of a paid workforce that can then afford to buy the products that Amazon is selling? So, I am taking the unfashionable, perhaps radical, position that we need employment to sustain society and in turn pay for the technology we want. While there are many benefits from doing things cheaper, where does real quality come in? My point is does anyone stop to consider the full impact of innovation? The industry panicked in 2008 and the ensuing years and cut itself to the bone, starting with a massive downsizing. One of the least attractive aspects of the worldwide recession was the veritable bloodletting in reducing the professional ranks it stimulated. But, unlike many previous recessions where a policy of ‘last in, first out’ was typical, this recession saw the greatest cuts among middle to upper level managers. Why?
They made more money and accounted for use of greater benefits. So, as networks made hundreds, sometimes thousands of experienced workers redundant, they didn’t spare the managers. Cuts to news divisions were particularly severe. Those cuts are still occurring, particularly in Europe. One really negative, and shortsighted result has been an extreme reduction in investigative journalism. The careers of an entire generation of younger would-be media professionals, often fresh from university, have been effectively put on hold. In fact, many young people have steered away from the very idea of a career in any form of journalism or media, except for blogging or social media and there the competition is frighteningly cutthroat. It is not a pretty picture for those starting out. I suggest it is time for the industry to call a halt to putting innovation before people and thereby acknowledge the importance of people power. Where to begin? How about acknowledging that it takes trained and experienced people, not robots or drones, to run stations and facilities? Even when those facilities are highly automated, they still require helping human minds, hands and eyes. So, I submit that it would be refreshing to plan for accommodating the concept of employment and using competent managers for the stewardship of media operations. Companies can sponsor students through endowed scholarships and offer paid internships. Generally, the
industry should foster the employment of both younger and more mature and experienced professional men and women with the target of rebuilding capabilities by expanding employment. Recent decades have seen the arrival and absorption of automation, robotic cameras, virtual imaging, etc. Yes, some of these have been quite beneficial and I would agree that there is no going back. However, as we embrace more innovations, let’s consider their impact on jobs. Our industry not only rises and falls on efficiency but also on savvy management, good content and quality engineering. In that regard, a trained and experienced workforce is an essential tool, reflects good technology policy and is a sign of good governance. So, I suggest the question at hand as the industry builds back, is not merely whether something can be done more cheaply, or even seemingly more efficiently, but whether or not that is even desirable in the first place if it threatens jobs. My thesis is that profits should be balanced with the need for and the desire to maintain good people. People invented and developed the industry and people will keep it innovating and growing. PRO
Douglas I. Sheer is CEO and Chief Analyst of D.I.S. Consulting Corporation headquartered in Woodstock, NY.
February 2014 | www.broadcastprome.com |
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