Newspaper circulation is falling
and newspapers are knocking into bankruptcy due to social and technological
changes such as the availability of news on the Internet. Piet Bakker reminds
us that newspapers are still important, as they are the only medium that
primarily focuses on news and that newspapers are a key source of news for
citizens.
What then happened is the
newspaper’s transition onto digital platforms in the late 1990s and early
2000s. The online journalism connects the public to news organizations,
democratize news reporting, and the news technologies have enabled citizens to
contribute to news making.
Newspapers have been defined by
the geography but on moving online they were not constrained by the same
borders. The challenge was that journalists face more audiences with diverse
needs and they have to meet up with these needs. Also, newspapers became aware
that distant readers who would never see the print edition are seeing their
online content.
Internet journalism offers new
opportunities for interactivity. It makes people free to express their opinions
beyond letter to the editor and vox pops. It offers readers to comment
immediately on news and share them with friends and family. Publishing online
allows breaking news, breaks space constraints, gives the opportunity to
provide original source material. Linking to sources or citing is a matter of
transparency and a matter of leaving the audience to decide which information
to trust. Links to other sources are mobilizing information that enables
citizens to participate in the democratic process.
Hyperlinking is another example
on interactivity. Not long ago, The email conversations with journalists, was
the height of interactivity. But now the definition of interactivity is
changing, which posed a challenge for online newspapers to know how to keep
updated with new technologies and how to use them. Enhanced forms of audiences
participation provides the newspapers with deeper understanding of their
audience and helps in the news decision-making process.
The journalistic profession is
based on informing more than entertaining people. Journalists have to provide
news of interest to the audience as well as news in the public interest and
they have to resist the temptation to focus only on stories that attract huge
number of hits on the website.
The “digital first” policy was
announced by The Guardian and The Observer thereby they prioritize the online
edition over the printed one which many newspapers are adopting these days to
remain in a 24/7 news environment.
There are readers from outside
the geographical area of the printed edition. Readers who were once living in a
certain community are still loyal to that community’s newspapers. This enables
newspapers to maintain relationship with loyal readers but still they have to
serve their need the best.
In citizen journalism and
user-generated content. Technology had enabled a proliferation of amateur-news
making, which raised a question about who is more qualified to be counted as a
journalist? There are few bloggers receive much more attention which invites a
debate between the professional objectivity and personal subjectivity.
Newspapers have relied on
advertising revenues. Circulation is a key element to determine how much
newspapers will be charged for advertising space. But in online, there is no
way to monetize the traffic to websites. Newspapers don’t charge users reading
their content, so that a great number of people will be drawn to the site,
which enable to levy a charge on advertisers. Newspapers thought that the
online edition will open a new source of revenue, but it caused a decline in
their print edition
Newspapers have to find
sustainable way to make money or they will continue to cut staff and other
expenses to reduce their costs, and in doing so, they sacrifice their content
quality.
It is the time to rethink about
what counts as newspapers journalism. The traditional emphasis on the print
format misses an important point, which is whether readers read high-quality
newspaper reporting. “Newspapers cannot be defined by the second word-paper. They’ve
got be defined by the first word-news” - Arthur Jr.
