When you think of “the media,” what comes to mind? A few major news networks and daily newspapers, or an army of podcasters, vloggers and other citizen journalists on myriad digital platforms? All of the above or somewhere in between?

However it’s defined, three professors from the University of Michigan explore the current state of media on the latest episode of Business & Society.

Sarah Zimmerman, lecturer of business communication at U-M’s Ross School of Business, and professors Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan from the College of Literature, Science, and Arts offer insights on the fragmentation of traditional mainstream media, the rise and evolving role of influencers and the ways they expect the media landscape to continue to change in the coming years.

The episode was recorded live last month at U-M’s Maize X Blue Marketing and Communications Summit.

The fragmentation of the mainstream media

The mainstream—or legacy—media used to consist of just a few news networks. Audiences could tune in to one of their limited choices or elect not to watch the news at all. Ryan discusses how the number of people regularly tuning in to the news is smaller, but the people who are seeking news are more demanding.

“I think the desire for news among a certain group of people is probably greater than it’s ever been,” said Ryan, associate professor of communication and media and of political science. “So they need more sources. They may read The New York Times, they may watch the traditional evening newscast, but that’s not satiating their appetite, right? So that increases the need for different types of content.”

This desire paves the way for alternative news sources, such as podcasters and social media influencers with niche angles for specific audiences.

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The new media landscape

In thinking about what will change, Zimmerman speaks to the consumers of information. She believes news listeners will stay busy, and the news may shift to accommodate this by taking on short-form content.

“Making things more bite-sized, more manageable—I think that’s probably where we’re going,” Zimmerman said. “As consumers of information, we want to be entertained, but we also want to be informed. So whereas I had a lot of fear and trepidation four or five years ago about the changing media landscape, I now actually do have hope.”

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Takeaways for future media leaders

As for lessons they are imparting to future media and communications leaders in their classrooms, critical thinking is paramount.

“I encourage my students to really beware of post hoc explanations about the media,” said Krupnikov, professor of communication and media. “It is often very rare that something happens in politics because of one journalist or because of one podcaster. So (I tell my students) to beware of people telling them that one media decision really caused such an enormous chain of events.”

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Business & Society is co-produced by JT Godfrey of the Ross School of Business and Jeff Karoub of the Michigan News office. The audio engineer is Jonah Brockman and editorial production is provided by Mads Henke. Listen to all episodes of the podcast.