Media Institute Releases White Paper on Post-Pandemic Digital Media Trends To Wide Audience as Persistent Virus Delays Shift to New Normal

FOR RELEASE: January 19, 2022

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

Arlington, Va., January 19, 2022 – As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches into 2022, The Media Institute’s Digital Media Center today released publicly for the first time its insightful analysis of post-pandemic digital media trends published in mid-2021.

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.  It was first published as a proprietary document for Digital Media Center supporters in June 2021.

The paper examines usage trends for several types of digital media during the pandemic.  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.

“Since the pandemic has persisted much longer than we might’ve anticipated, we think it would be beneficial to make this White Paper widely available at this time,” said Media Institute President Richard T. Kaplar.  “The contents and conclusions of this paper remain highly relevant as the post-pandemic ‘new normal’ is poised to emerge – finally, we hope – in 2022,” Kaplar said.

One of Brotman’s mid-year predictions already seems prophetic: “The transition process [to a new normal] will be more gradual, yet rooted in some fundamental adjustments in corporate and consumer behavior that already have occurred and are destined to endure,” he writes.

The White Paper can be accessed here: https://www.mediainstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/White-Paper-Calibrating-Digital-Media-Trends-For-the-Post-Pandemic-New-Normal.pdf.

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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