John Ryley has stepped down as the head of Sky News after 17 years. In this second article for his series on the future of broadcast news, John will look forward to how news will change over the next 40 years.
Tuning in
Today, there are those who argue that non-stop news channels like Sky and BBC are in decline, slowly and surely on their way out.
They point to the exponential growth in the mobile internet: “Why would you want to get your news from a linear news channel, from some know-it-all editor who has smugly decided for you exactly what you will watch and in the order in which you will watch it, when you can pick-and-mix from a veritable smorgasbord on a million internet-connected platforms?”
It is undoubtedly true that the incredible growth of the internet, especially on smartphones, has opened new markets for news suppliers; Instagram; YouTube; TikTok; the platform formerly known as Twitter. All now serve as a vector, not just for light-hearted clips to pass the time, but as a medium for serious news outlets.
One of the United States’ most prominent “futurologists,” Marc Andreessen – the founder of Netscape – thinks we have drastically underestimated the scale of the smartphone revolution and its impact on the news industry. Andreessen says more people have access to a phone than have access to running water; a chastening thought. By 2063, you have to assume that almost everyone on the planet will have access to the internet. According to the UN’s mid-range prediction, that’s around 9 billion people. As Nic Newman of the Reuters Institute for Journalism says, there are some other things which we must take as given when we envisage life in 2063…
Looking ahead
Wi-Fi will be ubiquitous and universally fast! You will be able to get all content in a nanosecond, wherever you are. Video will stream in ultra-high quality not just 5K, but 50K, with no infuriating buffering.
Battery life will no longer be an issue; either batteries will be constantly recharged wirelessly while you are on the move, or new technology will keep them going almost indefinitely.
