Institute’s Digital Media Center Releases Analysis by Stuart N. Brotman

FOR RELEASE: June 29, 2021

Contact: Richard T. Kaplar
The Media Institute
703-243-5700

Arlington, Va., June 29 – As the country emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, The Media Institute’s Digital Media Center has released an insightful analysis of how the pandemic has affected digital media usage and how those changes may play out in the post-pandemic transition to a “new normal.”

The White Paper is titled “Calibrating Digital Media Trends for the Post-Pandemic ‘New Normal’” and is authored by Media Institute Distinguished Fellow Stuart N. Brotman.

The paper examines usage trends for several types of digital media during 2020 and the first half of 2021.  It then looks at several areas where changes in usage brought about by the pandemic may have far-reaching impacts in the post-pandemic world.  These include the post-pandemic work environment; consumer demand for digital media; podcasting; e-commerce and digital advertising; and digital privacy protection.

“This post-pandemic new normal, however defined, will not be binary – a switch from off to on.  Rather, the transition process will be more gradual, yet rooted in some fundamental adjustments in corporate and consumer behavior that already have occurred and are destined to endure,” Brotman writes.

“Examining the current state of digital media and assessing where trends are heading is at the heart of the Digital Media Center’s mission,” said Media Institute President Richard Kaplar.  “Stuart Brotman’s White Paper is a unique and important document that is certain to inform the Digital Media Center’s activities in the post-pandemic months ahead.”

The primary audience for the paper is Digital Media Center sponsors and Media Institute supporters.  However, review copies will be made available upon request by contacting the Institute.

The Media Institute is a nonprofit foundation working to advance sound communications policy, freedom of speech, and excellence in journalism.  For more information, visit the Institute online at www.mediainstitute.org.

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