Falling reading figures, of the papers that is, and declining advertising sales has produced a pincer movement meaning many have been fighting a losing battle. With the internet then pouring over the top of the trenches like American troops arriving late into a world war, the newspaper publishers seem to be on their knees.

They have combated bravely with their own internet presence, but the basic rule that you provide “free” services, yes I understand web advertising etc., it has further eaten into falling budgets. More and more papers are now trying to charge for online access - which with the advent of mobile technology they have had to do something.

In the UK I currently get The Daily Telegraph on my iPad for free - which is very good. It doesn’t carry the weight of articles of the printed edition and the articles are very light, which to be honest is what you need when reading on a screen - but it is daily news.

I have argues for many years that the internet provides just another form of media - it will not completely replace radio, television or newspapers. All those editorial teams and production facilities will be needed to disseminate the news. What it may change is the way they deliver that news and so it seems to be proving.

There is a place for newspapers, but there has to be a point where they become financially unfeasible, I hope not but I fear the worse.

Hence it was great that the Independent Newspaper in the UK produced a rarity, a new national newspaper - called The I - it describes itself as “The essential daily briefing” and that is what it is. It costs just 20 pence (about 31 cents) is between 56 and 60 pages and covers most of the news and articles to be found in other national newspapers - but far briefer and punchy in its quality reporting than is the norm. It is like a paper edition of an iPad/iPod edition of a newspaper.

It is excellent and may prove to be successful, time will tell. I guess it is aimed at the new generation of news consumers who get their updates online and on the move. The problem there is that they are probably already doing that so may not even try this new format.

Fort myself, I have worked in the online news delivery for several years now - and I am used to the instant and yet up-datable story and as it happens approach. The short pithy comment and report - I like it myself but it is eroding a five hundred year old industry.

At Enigin we use the web to the full, with news feeds coming in and going out, along with any other information dissemination we can utilise. This is the world of today - a very different media world from just a few years ago, a very different multi-media world.

In the UK the new is dominated by the financial crisis in Europe and the UK, which is taking the forefront of media coverage - which makes sense as the future of the planet seems to be of little concern to many countries as the Eurozone collapses, with countries falling into oblivion!

But with timely reports from major climate change analysers warning that action has to be taken now - COP17 is evermore vital, the media attention would add extra pressure to governments to act, if it falls down the news listing politicians will dismiss it, for the current moment at least.

The news today from News24, a South African website who seem to reporting regularly on the conference, states today (December 5):

The 194-nation process is facing, for the second time in two years, the prospect of a bust-up, even as scientists warn against the mounting threat of disaster-provoking storms, droughts, flood and rising seas made worse by global warming.

The 12-day Durban conference is eyeing a deal which secures the future of the Kyoto Protocol, set to be cast into limbo just a year from now.

It also would seek to coax China, the US, India and Brazil into a new treaty on emissions curbs.

Wendel Trio of Greenpeace said everything now depended on four days of talks among environment ministers, due to start on Tuesday.

Very worrying….

With COP17 dues this seems to be a apt warning.

The media does seem to enjoy a good climate change story, with the majority around the globe taking the view that climate change is happening - if not the view is based on political view rather than scientific one.

It is interesting scanning the worlds media and seeing the various views on the same story - the quote above has been taken as scaremongering and “common sense” being shown by those that matter - counter wise the other side reports this story with alarm.

It is always good to remember the political leaning of the news service you are reading, whether it is a paper or online. Spin, Spin Spin is the name of the game, based on the news services administrative view of things.

Although the focus of discussions will be about combating climate change in every aspect we understand the importance of improving energy efficiency is a major weapon in this combat.

From the media viewpoint it will become a highlight of the end of the year and hence the United Nations and the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) have sen an invite to media representatives to a one-day interactive pre-COP workshop.

The workshop, which will update media representatives on the status of the complex negotiations of the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) as they continue the search for common ground on the crucial next steps to design an effective international response to climate change.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Ambassador NJ Mxakato-Diseko, Ambassador-at-Large for the South African COP Presidency, will shed light on the negotiations, including an update on the preparatory meeting in Panama this October and the ministerial meeting in South Africa. The workshop will also examine some of the most critical climate change challenges facing Africa and discuss innovative solutions already underway.

The workshop will provide substantive resources and logistical and technical advice for media representatives relating to their coverage of COP 17.  In addition, United Nations speakers will share information and insights regarding climate change itself, especially as it affects Africa.

Is this the case - I think it is, but not just for news content. To be honest if you want in depth, well researched content then pick up a quality newspaper. Recently the future of the New York Times has been raised, with the paper stating it is doing better than ever, while the figures do not reflect this. So will the Web kill the newspaper?

If you want up to date, as it happens news, turn on the TV or radio, the content will not be as deep but you get the news first.

Hence the print media is being killed by the speed in which news is delivered, TV I would suggest followed by the web, and then by the general lack of desire for real news.

What do I mean by that, a lack of desire for real news?

Quality papers have been struggling for many years to keep their readership at a profitable level, thay have been losing out to the more sensational newspapers, tabloids, red tops or whatever they are called in your region of the world.

We live well and truly in a sound bite generation - people want snippets and the web and TV provide that - cutting well and truly into the newspapers readership figures.

Not that newspapers rely on their readership to make money, but the dropping numbers affect advertising revenues, which is how the papers survive.

This is the real killer for the papers when it comes to the world wide web - advertising. With the onset of Google’s Adwords, and now others, the advertising budgets of national and even more so regional and local papers has been slashed.

As a business owner you would look at the cost of an advert in the paper and then think about who will read it, of those that do read it how many will it apply to - out those how many are looking for your service or product at this moment in time.

Now compare that to web advertising, it is targeted, even geographically, to those who are looking for what you have to offer and not only that it links straight into your web site, where you can gather information and sell the service or product and do a lot more than in a static advert.

There is no way that traditional media can compete with that.

I want to see newspapers survive, I like newspapers but I must admit I buy them less and less. Newspapers are trying to fight back by publishing on the web, with the current thought of charging for content - I am not to sure if that would work.

At Enigin we encourage our Distributors to use Google Adwords, and will soon be offering a service to do it for them, as it is very powerful, works and can be easily analyzed for its effectiveness and return on investment - which after all is what business is all about.

The future fir newspapers look bleak, but don’t give up on them yet - I have a feeling they will survive, some at least.

Yet, lighting is not the only energy-sourcing element, when you consider things such as air conditioning for example. As for grocery/food related businesses, a large strain is put on the profit margins because of the energy consumed by refrigeration!

Energy efficient systems, which Enigin offer worldwide, are a key response to this problem!

Especially now that energy prices are soaring, seemingly endlessly, Enigin solutions are clearly essential for business owners, no matter where they are in the world or what their trade is - all business buildings need to consume energy in order to run.

Enigin have specific products designed from the latest technology available in energy efficiency to bring the most suited solution to business owners anywhere in the world. As specialists in the their field, Enigin can cater for all kinds of demand and continue to deliver great customer service.

For example, Enigin have a great energy efficient lighting system called LESS. LESS is designed to consume a lot less energy than conventional lighting and yet deliver higher performance lighting! Furthermore, LESS can respond to the amount of sunlight available in an office, adjusting its brightness accordingly and therefore saving energy whenever possible!

Enigin also have a system to eradicate energy wastage through air conditioning units, called ACES. Last but not least, Enigin can give business owners the opportunity to actually see how much energy their business is consuming with a tool called Eniscope.

Eniscope is more than a smart meter! It’s a Real Time Energy Management System which gives consumers a smart display option, presenting collected data in the form of full colored salient graphs, in the language of their choice! Eniscope works in real-time, and the information it gathers can be accessible anywhere in the world. Eniscope is able to measure and monitor energy usage, identify where exactly energy is being wasted, which in turn enables business owners to take appropriate action by installing the required energy saving equipment.

Businesses can rely on Enigin to save money on their energy bills, while at the same time enhancing their green credentials and respecting the energy efficiency standards set by governments in an attempt to reduce the effects of climate change.

At Enigin we are always aware of the importance of the media, the way they can alert people to the importance of energy efficiency and global climate change, with the urgency needed to reduce energy waste and carbon emissions.

So it is interesting to see how the media reacts to large events, particularly climatic ones - that seem to be coming wider spread due to global warming - and this past weekends Hurricane Irene coverage was interesting.

Now I am sure there are detractors who say that New York Mayor, Michael Bloomfield, overreacted and emptied low lying areas too promptly - in the end there was destruction and plenty of it - but not on the level feared as the Hurricane collapsed into a tropical storm.

This did mean all the journalists around the world who replaced the evacuated locals, looked a little sad as they reported on heavy rain and strong winds, and not much more.

They seemed to be delighted that at least an 11 year old boy had died in the Carolinas - what a sad event - but for the media it carried weight.

The washing away of a life boat station, which seemed to be built on the beach, was also a shot re-run and re-run.

Hurricane Katrina was not that long ago that I must ask, how come the coverage never seemed to be at the same level? New Orleans can once again complain that they seem to count less that, let’s say, New York.

Now I accept that it could have been the news item of the year - all these media organisations could get into position before the news actually happened - they could see it coming. It was right for them to do what they did, but they also needed a back up plan to downgrade the news along with the downgrading of the storm.

Not that I am saying the coverage was wrong for those closely involved in it - the states affected by the passage of the wind, but for the rest of the U.S. and the world, it was interesting but not tot he degree that it needed to corner the media coverage for most of Sunday.

Plus, why did we not get similar coverage on the other days - New York is obviously a major city and rightly took center stage on Sunday, but how about the more southerly states that had been affected, and more critically - should the coverage globally had been the same?

I have said it before - 24 hour news coverage can be great, but often it is a little too much and too often.

Enigin are an energy efficiency service provider and, as such, are subject to being impacted on by the outcomes of advertising campaigns encouraging consumers to do their bit for the environment and use energy saving products.

But marketers, who share Enigin PLC’s point of view concerning the importance of reacting to climate change, know that there are two types of audiences their ads must reach, along with reaching the people who are already acting responsibly for the environment.

On the one hand are the skeptics who think climate change is just an opportunity for governments to instill paranoia among the population, to manipulate consumer behaviorism for the benefit of large multimillion international businesses. Along with the skeptics are the people who simply don’t feel concerned by environmental issues, judging them too vague or too distant in the future to feel threatened about.

On the other hand, are the fervent believers and ecological activists, who want to become energy efficient, but who are so overly flooded with dramatic scenario descriptions and worrying environmental statistics, that they feel helpless in the face of the colossal problem the world is confronted to. This feeling morphs into motivational paralysis, leading to their resignation to respond to any new messages on the subject.

So how can governments get through to such audiences about promoting  energy efficient products, such as the ones offered by Enigin?

The answer resides in the mainstream media! Advertising strategies that governments worldwide have been employing recently are attempting to reach audiences about energy efficiency and climate change with ads that some might classify as politically incorrect, and others would label as being plain shocking.

U.S. environmental groups have focused on the bright side, playing up the collateral benefits of saving energy and using energy efficient solutions, by saying that the oil industry wants Americans to depend on it, but that Americans have access to cleaner and cheaper energy that will infringe oil price rises and preserve the planet.

But in other countries, some activist groups and governments have used much darker messages to urge people to save energy.

For example, the British ministry for climate change has produced an advert that shows a father reading his young daughter a bedtime story dealing with climate change and energy consumption. The ad shows a bunny rabbit crying, a carbon dioxide monster in the sky and a puppy drowning. It was subject to a lot of complaints and seen as ‘too scary’ for children, although it does educate them about the importance of saving energy.

Another controversial example is EU’s Nicolas Hulot Foundation portraying the World Trade Center Twin Towers as two burning tree trunks, reproducing the 9/11 scene and carrying the message: “For nature, every day is 9/11″.

In South Africa, Greenpeace has issued an ad showing a snow globe filled with water, with empty top hats and scarfs on the bottom, having seemingly belonged once to snow-men, and saying: “Winter. You’ll miss it when it’s gone.”

Perhaps the most shocking of these ads is the Portuguese environmental group Quercus’ ad, showing animals living in hellish landscapes, with deforestation, drought and shrinking ice caps, who decide to commit suicide! A monkey slips a rope around his neck, a polar bear takes a plunge from a cliff and a kangaroo jumps in front of a speeding train… A gruesome, depressing scenario with a message: “If you give up, they give up.”

Energy efficiency, conservation and preventing global warming require urgent attention and active contribution from everyone, and especially from businesses, that produce enormous amounts of carbon emissions. Enigin PLC’s energy efficient solutions are beneficial to business owners as they save them a lot of money by cutting down energy
consumption and hence costs.

However, do we need shocking advertising to choose to save money while saving energy and the planet? Because, at the end of the day, most businesses consider this to be the most logical thing to do anyway, and seem to think that implementing energy efficient products, such as Enigin PLC’s, is definitely the way forward.

Was the advent of CNN or some other station - I am not sure and I am not sad enough to spend time finding out - but at some point over the last 15 years suddenly news on the telly changed from set times (6pm, 10pm midnight etc. or hourly on the radio) to the rolling new we have all got used to.

Aligned now with the internet we can get news from anywhere at any time, we can even be ahead of the news if we make use of Twitter, as people in newsworthy regions and events post practically live from the front line.

So much information so little time.

The problems evolve from the overkill - even a fascinating story that grips begins to lose all appeal after you have heard the same item over and over again. Particularly as the constant coverage sees little movement of the story.

You end up getting updates based on the slightest change, with reports such as: “The press secretary did just walk along the corridor so we expect to see the Premier any moment for this press conference.” That is real news!

Then to provide the background we get the expert wheeled out - usually someone who knows a little about the point or people in the news, they possibly worked in the particular location or spot several years ago, but now they are an expert and we have to hear this person drone on about something they seem to know little about.

To interact with the audience they are invited to text and email their opinions - that isn’t news, that is allowing all us to vent our feelings and I do not want to here what Mrs Miggins thinks of climate change.

I thought it would be funny to do a spoof of this with one of our Enigin Videos - do an Enigin News item like they do on the TV - a big screen behind the presenter with the requirement that he no longer sits behind his desk but has to walk up and down, as if that makes any sense. On second thoughts we will forget that idea.

What Enigin do is give businesses the opportunity to save money by using energy efficient products that consume less energy to function. And this also entails fewer emissions, as less energy is sourced for the business to run.

Enigin solutions are particularly essential when considering that climate change is occurring at a very rapid pace.

US scientists have apparently found a new way to measure the planet’s rate of climate change. Time Magazine has published a report saying that the Californian researchers in question can now determine the impact of global warming by using kilometers/year measurement.

To summarise the idea, the planet’s habitable climatic zones will soon start to shift away from the equator and head for the poles, as the world’s average temperature rises, namely due to excessive energy consumption which is what Enigin are contributing to reducing.

Due to this climate movement, both plant and animal species will have to find new habitats in order to survive, but some won’t even be able to do so at such a fast pace and will become extinct.

Serious consequences will soon become a reality, some have already started to happen in fact, and the way to prevent these changes from having dramatic outcomes is to act upon it now. By reducing our carbon footprint, we also reduce the intensity of climate change, provided the change is large scale. Energy efficiency is one of the best way to achieve this, and has the advantage of being cost-effective.

Saving money on electricity bills is something everyone wants to do, and with Enigin, this is possible by switching to energy efficient systems for things like lighting, air conditioning etc.. Not only does it cut a business’ running costs, but it also participates in saving the planet from irreparable damage by reducing carbon emissions.