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A recent report by search engine Technorati has revealed that the number of non-mainstream blogs in the 100 most popular information websites was rising, News.com.au quoted Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chairman Graeme Samuel, as saying.

“What is even more worrying for traditional media organisations is that some of their assumptions about users trusting known brands are starting to look a little shaky,” Samuel told a Walkley business lunch in Sydney.

Samuel said that now-a-days users do not discriminate between blogs and mainstream media website.

“For a growing base of users, these are all equally valid sources of news, information, entertainment and gossip, and users are not necessarily discriminating between traditional and new sources,” the website quoted him, as saying.

Samuel went on to say that though the “old” media companies still dominate, but they could no longer assume that users would always default back to “traditional houses of journalism”.

This meant the media had to find new ways of remaining relevant to a fragmented and disloyal audience.

“For regulators like the ACCC, it means ensuring regulation relied on during the last century does not become an irrelevant fallback position that fails to serve the public’s best interests,” he said.

Samuel said that the traditional media’s move of providing premium online content only to its subscribers had largely been unsuccessful.

“As I’ve mentioned before, with the actual distribution models constantly changing, second-guessing and trying to control the dominant platforms isn’t likely to be a successful strategy,” he said.

Samuel said ACCC’s role was to ensure content did not become locked in the hands of the few, to the detriment of consumers or advertisers.

“Despite the apparent increase in diversity that the digital age promises, there are still very real risks that we may end up the poorer if we do not keep our eye on just where control lies for the material we want to receive,” he said.

Some media outlets had responded to the digital age by including blogs - moderated by journalists - alongside traditional articles and commentary on websites.

Television stations were also making content available online and radio was podcasting and streaming on-demand content, the website reported. (ANI)