1. Journalism in the New Media
Age
Key Debates

2. • Newspapers compete with each other and with e-
media
• UK newspapers have lost about 2.25 million
readers in the last 10 years and advertising
revenues have fallen by 20%
• Initially, newspapers failed to grasp potential of
new technologies and were dismissive of
unconventional competitors
• Harder to make profits because so many free news
sites online
• Online advertisers have other options to generate
income
• They offer interactivity and range of gratifications

3. • News institutions have to differentiate
themselves from each other because of the
competition
• The Guardian realised the potential of going
online early and the website is one of the
world’s leading online sites, attracting more
than 25 million users in one month. In
contrast, the print version reachers 350,000 a
day

4. Activity
• How does the online version of a newspaper
improve on what the print version can offer?
• What gratifications can audiences get from
the Guardian website that they can’t get from
the print version

5. Should news be free?
• James Murdoch (NewsCorp) thinks free online news –
threatens the plurality and independence of news
provision. Particularly critical of the BBC, which he sees as
state-sponsored journalism, who made it ‘incredibly
difficult for private news organisations to ask people to pay
for their news
• NewsCorp, of course has bought several newspapers in the
UK and USA, owns Fox TV and has a large share in SKY
• NewsCorp is driven by the need to make money, whereas
the BBC is funded primarily by money from the TV licence
• NewsCorp newspapers have a paywall – some of their
website is content is free, but you have to pay to access
most of it – unlike The Guardian, which is completely free

6. The Democratisation of the News
• Internet has made it easier than ever to access news –
people are reading what they want to read, accessing the
kind of news they want
• Chris Cramer from Reuters has talked about the rise of
Citizen Journalism – most compelling pictures come from
eye-witnesses (with their phones) to the actual event.
‘Social media is the news gathering of the first resort…’
• Advances in technology mean audiences can chronicle
news and offer it to institutions
• News institutions need to recognise the validity of eye-
witness accounts if they are to compete successfully
• The journalist’s role will have to include the checking and
verifying of content provided by an audience generating
news stories themselves

7. Audience Power
• The New York Times mentors community websites as a
way of gathering news from local sources
• Downside – most such sites are run by middle-class
young adults who may not necessarily be covering the
kind of news others are interested in
• The Daily Mail’s Jan Moir wrote a homophobic article
about Stephen Gately following his death – it led to a
storm of protest on social network sites and other
newspapers, like The Guardian, followed suit. The Press
Complaints Commission had 21,000 complaints and
Marks and Spencers removed their ads from the Mail
website

8. News Quality Undermined
• However audiences still access the news as decided on by
the news organisations’ various agenda
• A recent study by Goldsmith’s University in London sees
news quality undermined because:
• 1. Tabloid approach used to catch attention by any means,
especially by making people angry or frightened
• Today’s journalism encourages excesses and inaccuracy –
stories are sexed up to make them more attractive to
readers
• Journalists are under increasing pressure to produce stories
fast – often recycle information from a limited number of
sources – the same stories feature on different websites –
look at The Daily Mail website, for example…