Newspapers: The effect of online technology

Do you agree with James Murdoch that the BBC should not be allowed to provide free news online? Why?

I understand were James Murdoch is coming from when he says that it is "a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision" when the BBC provides free news online and that it is difficult "for private news organisations to ask people to pay for their news". I also agree that "it is essential for the future of independent digital journalism that a fair price can be charged for news to people who value it". However, the BBC should be allowed to do what they want. Murdoch should concentrate on creating ideas of how to make NewsCorp better so that they can maintain their audiences and not focus on the BBC because if their newspapers was unique enough, they should be able to keep their faithful readers and not loose popularity.

Was Rupert Murdoch right to put his news content (The Times, The Sun) behind a paywall?

this blog on the Times paywall three years on

Three years on exactly from launching its trailblazing digital subscription strategy, The Times and The Sunday Times have now amassed a total of 140,000 paying digital subscribers, "mainly on the tablet". This means that faithful readers are willing to pay to read the news content of The Times. The papers, published by News UK, now have more paying customers than they did on 2 July 2010, which is regarded by News UK executives as the true marker of success. However, we cannot forget the fact that there are other on-line newspapers that you can read for free such as the Daily Mail. In fact, Times Newspapers Ltd lost £28.7 million for the year to July 1, on turnover of £361 million. That 20 jobs are to go from the Times shows the costbase still isn't quite right.The digital subscription model is not a solution to those existential problems. To convince people to "pay for news" does not remove a £28 million loss overnight or even in five years. Personally, I think that Rupert Murdoch was right to some degree to put his news content behind a paywall however it was clear that it wasn't going to increase profit by a large amount due to some people not liking the fact of paying for news when there are other news that they can read for free on-line. 

Choose two comments from below the Times paywall article - one that argues in favour of the paywall and one that argues against. Copy a quote from each and explain which YOU agree with and why.

Against 

"It is so ridiculous if these mainstream newspapers believe that they can "force readership of fee-based news. One can get the same "news" for free almost anywhere on the internet...The fee model will never work."

For

"Just a thought on that: Times gets £14.99 pm from 140,000 subscribers, making it considerably more than it made in online advertising."

I agree with the quote against the paywall as it makes a decent point that people can get the same sort of news for free on the internet and therefore the fee model would be hard to put in practise in today's society.

Why do you think the Evening Standard has bucked the trend and increased circulation and profit in the last two years?

this article from the Media Briefing on the continuing decline of the newspaper industry

Because of how many newspapers they have made as they say 700,000 a day its more likely to be 900,000 as they are pushing for increase of circulation. They made a 27% increase of circulation to the ABC demographic. However they lost 5% of their audiences which suggest that they will eventually lose profit.

Is there any hope for the newspaper industry or will it eventually die out? Provide a detailed response to this question explaining and justifying your opinion.

In my opinion I think that there is no hope for print newspaper because of the way society is going. There are more places in which people can get news such as social media which provides live news 24/7. At the moment, print newspapers are decreasing which is forcing newspapers such as The Guardian and The Sun to go on-line. It is also forcing newspapers like The Sun to put a paywall to read the newspaper on-line as the industry is losing profit. Despite the amount of subscribers that they have, it does not give them enough money to re-gain the amount of money they lost over the past few years. Since the next generation is surely to be basing their everyday lives on-line, print will not be a popular option for them. Also, due to the other free news on-line, not everyone is going to be interested to pay a fee to read news much longer. Sadly, I think newspapers are going to eventually die out. 

(10) News Corp offers Times and WSJ digital bundle for corporate users

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/01/news-corp-times-wsj-digital-bundle-corporate-users

Summary:

News Corp is bundling together digital access to the Times and Wall Street Journal for corporate customers, allowing existing subscribers to either title to read the other for free and offering a dual option for new companies who sign up.The deal will increase the Wall Street Journal’s appeal for corporate customers in London, where its main business news rival the Financial Times is based. The tie-up also has the potential to increase the reach of the Times’s online advertising, which has been restricted since the introduction of charges for online access in 2010.

Key data/statistical information:

• The FT has benefited in recent years from a drive to recruit corporate customers, helping take its digital subscriber base to more than 500,000.

• There has been speculation the Times could be offered as part of a bundle with Sky TV, in which News Corp’s sister company 21st Century Fox holds a 39% stake, no deal has materialised.

• Next week the paper is planning to offer 1m sample copies across London’s transport network at stations such as Bank and Canary Wharf and at London City Airport.

What's my view?

I think that this raise competition between newspapers that focus on finance like the Financial Times. The tie-up could potentially work but due to the decrease on print newspaper, i'm not too sure if the Wall Street Journal could gain as much popularity as other print newspapers. 

(9) Female technology journalists report abuse is still the name of the game

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/11/female-technology-journalists-abuse-zoe-quinn

Summary: 

Women in tech forced to disguise their identity – and even quit the industry – after facing threats online, study finds. But women in tech, such as games developer Zoe Quinn, had told me about being terrorised, made homeless, or “screamed at by a Nazi” down the phone at night. Quinn was targeted by groups – mostly of young men – who saw her as a symbol of socially aware critiques of misogyny in gaming to which they objected. Abuse is now “a job hazard for all female writers”, according to US journalist and author, Nina Burleigh, who’s been “threatened and trolled”.What comes across in the hundreds of anonymous comments is a chilling normality: “Insults about my knowledge, rape threats, the usual,” writes one. The 100 respondents also describe a plague of face-to-face incidents, from “sexist views” in the newsroom, to being “hit on” and “stalked”. Nevertheless, an overwhelming 86% surveyed agreed that “more should be done to stop sexist abuse”. One wonders how long women will have to go on clamouring for change, many hiding their gender as they do so.

Key data/statistical information:

• Research I conducted for Nottingham Trent University found one in five female journalists covering technology has disguised her gender to avoid sexist abuse, and nearly 40% have changed working practices for fear of being targeted.

• Female writers disguising their gender is not new. “We had a vague impression that authoresses are likely to be looked on with prejudice,” wrote Charlotte Brontë in 1846 to explain why she and her sisters (aka Currer, Acton and Ellis Bell) had used male noms de plume.

• But of the female technology journalists who replied to the survey, 62% said they had experienced sexist abuse, compared with 50% of female journalists who reported similar attacks to the Women’s Media Foundation.

• Four out of 10 said fear of being attacked has affected their work or altered their writing.

• 20% are disguising the fact they are female by writing anonymously or using a non-gender-specific name.

• Just 35% of tech journalists are female, according to a Colombia Journalism Review report.

• To put it in some context, 73% of US male science and technology journalists surveyed by University of Wisconsin-Madison students last year reported “no gender-related experiences”, compared with 19% of females

What's my view?

I think it is a shame that women are scared to admit what gender they are in the tech industry. Its sad to hear that threats are being made just because a women is passionate about gaming. It's such a sexist view and i'm not sure if things will get better in the near future or the future at all. 

(8) Richard Desmond boosts Daily Star sales with price cut

Links: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/07/richard-desmond-boosts-daily-star-sales-with-price-cut

Summary:

Richard Desmond’s move to spark a tabloid war by slashing the price of the Daily Star to 20p resulted in a UK sales boost of 23,000 copies on Monday. But the move did not hurt sales of rivals the Sun and Daily Mirror. The move by Northern & Shell, which cut the price of the Daily Star weekday, Saturday and Sunday editions by 50%, has been positioned as an attempt to “inject some overdue sales and excitement” into the tabloid market. While the Daily Star put on extra sales the move did not have an impact on rivals.“If nothing changes in terms of the scale of uplift of the Daily Star’s sales I’d give it a week or two before the price is put back up,” said a second newspaper industry executive. Retailers and newsagents were certainly led to believe this is a permanent change. “If nothing changes in terms of the scale of uplift of the Daily Star’s sales I’d give it a week or two before the price is put back up,” said a second newspaper industry executive.

Key data/statistical information:

• Unofficial figures for the first day of sales of the price war indicate that the Daily Star put on about 23,000 copies and grew UK sales by about 7% week-on-week.

• The Daily Star’s overall sales figures put the circulation increase at 5.6%, however this includes Ireland where the price cut has not been introduced so is not a true reflection of the impact.

• The Sun is thought to have seen sales rise about 3% on Monday, about a 50,000 rise, in part thanks to a Tesco token collect promotion. And the Daily Mirror is thought to have risen marginally, perhaps 1%.

• Northern & Shell will need time to evaluate the impact of the price change – the 50% loss on cover price revenue could cost it as much as £400,000 a week depending upon how many additional sales were notched up.

• Trade body the National Federation of Retail Newsagents was outraged by the move, with about 50 deciding to stop stocking the Daily Star in protest at their margins per copy sold being cut in half by the move.

What's my view?

The fact that the Daily Star costs now 20p and yet it didn't hurt the sales of rivals The Sun and Daily Mirror shows that it isn't as popular as the two other newspaper. However, since it has increased sales in the UK, the change could potentially be beneficial in a long run.

(7) Meryl Streep defends feminist credentials as Suffragette opens London film festival

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/oct/07/suffragette-london-film-festival-meryl-streep-carey-mulligan

Summary:

Suffragette received its UK premiere as the opening film of the London film festival. Scriptwriter Abi Morgan said: “A film that is fronted by an ensemble of women, and they are not being funny or romantic, is hard. That became a huge obstacle.” Suffragette tells the story of the militant campaign in support of women’s voting rights in the UK, and features Carey Mulligan as a laundress called Maud Watts,Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst, Natalie Press as Emily Davison, the activist who died at the 1913 Epsom Derby; and Helena Bonham Carter as Edith Ellyn, an amalgamation of more than one prominent suffragette. The film’s status as something of a political hot potato was reinforced by the declaration of activist group Sisters Uncut to stage a protest at the premiere event against cuts to domestic violence services. Having described this year’s edition of the London film festival as “the year of strong women”, festival director Clare Stewart said that Suffragette “first and foremost, tells an important story made by British women”. She said: “The issue over gender equality, especially in the film industry, has become an increasingly important one. It’s clear there is talent everywhere, but not a lot of opportunity.”

Key data/statistical information:

• Streep cited the reviews aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes for its skewed gender balance, saying she tabulated 168 women critics and bloggers on the site, as opposed to some 760 men.

What's my view?

Personally I think the film does tell an important story about the past and how the Suffragettes actually helped contribute to the standard of equality that women have today. Its key that people know about this as it does somewhat affect our generation. Also it could potentially bring awareness as women are still discriminated in some ways. For example, the film helped the Sisters Uncut group to protest against cuts to domestic violence services as domestic violence is still a problem till this day.

NDM Baseline assessment - learner response

Good effort, Alison
WWW- Attempts to incorporate own independent research
LR- More specific details needed in relation to the question: views/values 

Write a paragraph with specific examples:

YouTube is also a way in which a variety of views and values are shared as people can upload videos that can have great impact on the audience. For example, those who make YouTube videos such as Michelle Phan, are able to recommend beauty products or give life advice for girls. Most of the audience and fans will listen to her advice. This is an example of how the two step flow theory works. People can also like comments, and the video itself, to show that they agree with their views. These new developments in the social media sway the audiences to believe in the views and values that are presented. 

NDM News case study: Audience and Institution

What are the key statistics relating to the influence of new and digital media?

this extract from the Ofcom 2014 report

• 95% of Adults in the UK say they follow the news
• 75% of UK adults say they use TV as a source of news
• 41% of people this year use any internet or apps for news year compared to just under 32%
• In 2013, 44% of the 16-34 age group used the internet or apps for news and now it has increased  to 60% in 2014
• 28% of those who consume news in the UK named BBC One as the single most important news source to them

• Since 2013 there has been an increase in the number of people stating a website/app as their most important news source (21% in 2014 vs. 14% in 2013)
• Almost half (45%) of 16-24's say their most important news source is a website/app
• Each adult watches an average of 115 hours of national and international news on television in 2013. The majority of this (64%) was on BBC One or BBC Two and a further 12% on the BBC News channel. However, 16-24 year old's consumed only 27 hours of news on television in the same period, compared to 196 hours for those aged 55 and over.

• UK politics and current affairs, and worldwide current affairs are seen to have societal importance by half (49%) of UK adults, crime by 48% and weather by 45%.
• Among the 16-24's, specific news categories such as crime, sports, technology and science/environment fall into the top ten topics, while the over-55's are more likely to nominate, general world news and UK and regional current affairs.

• 58% of UK adults say they follow the news to find out “what’s going on in the world”
• 56% say they want to know “what’s going on across the UK” 
• 49% claim they want to know “what’s going on in my local area” 
• 46% would like to know “what’s going on in respective nations” 
• 42% say “because I feel it’s important to keep informed about certain issues” 

Come up with an example of an institution that has benefited from the changes new and digital media has brought to the news industry. Explain how new technology has helped the institution and try to find statistics or financial figures that support your point.

http://teleread.com/newspapers/uk-guardian-results-positive-for-digital-media/

Technology has helped the Guardian as their on-line media operations has aided in offsetting falling print sales without paywalls and content lock-up. 

• Guardian News & Media cited an annual loss of £30.9 million in the year to the end of March 2013, which had fallen by 30 percent from last year’s loss, “as growing digital revenues helped offset the continuing decline in income from print operations.”

• Guardian News & Media, “which now derives just over 28% of total revenues from on-line operations,” boosted its digital revenues “by 28.9% from £43.4 million to £55.9 million in the 12-month period, helping the publisher to slightly increase total revenues year on year to £196.3 million.

• Guardian iPad subscribers alone rose from 17,000 to 22,951

• Guardian News & Media’s digital display and sponsorship revenues rose by 39 percent year-over-year, online recruitment revenues rose by one third, and subscription/e-commerce revenues increased by 15 percent

• Guardian Media Group itself turned around a £75.6 million ($114.13 million) loss for 2012 into profits before tax of £22.7 million ($34.27 million) for 2013.

Find an example of an institution that has suffered as a result of the changes new and digital media has brought to the news industry. In what way has it had a negative impact? Again, try and find actual statistics or financial figures to explain your point

Due to journalism decreasing from traditional media outlets, Rupert Murdoch was forced to apply a paywall of £1 in order to read The Sun. 

• From June 2010 Rupert Murdoch has decided that he cannot sustain the losses of £57 million a year from his UK papers, and is putting up a paywall so that online editions of The Times and Sunday Times will cost the same as the print edition - £1 a day

• The paywall experiment recieved just 131,000 subscribers after two years

Who has benefited most from the changes new and digital media have had on the news industry - audiences or institutions?

Due to the changes made by new and digital media in the news industry, there have been many benefits on the audience and the industries.

The audience have benefited as they have a greater variety on the e-media. They can get immediate live news 24/7 through social networking sites such as twitter that would upload news tweets. The audience also have the possibility of using news apps to get the news 24/7. On the go news also gives the audience the chance to watch the news if they have missed the 6 o'clock news for example. Also, if one is use to reading the news, now there is the possibility of reading the news on-line for free for instance the Daily Mail. 

On the other hand, institutions have also benefited from the changes new and digital media have had on the news industry. Some institutions have taken advantage of this new change and have made on-line news so that they can reach the audience more and gain more popularity. The Guardian took this initiative and increased the profit that they use to receive.

Even though the audience can read news on-line some sites such as The Sun have a payroll of £! which is a disadvantage to the audience. On the other hand, newspapers suffer disproportionately as they are still running with costly and unwieldy ‘old media’ print distribution. There are approximately 55,000 shops and outlets with a delivery of heavy newspapers early every morning. In a recent radio discussion on the BBC Media Show newspaper editors admitted that no one knows if there will be print newspapers in 10 years time. Possibly everybody will be reading their newspaper on a Kindle, mobile phone or iPad.

To conclude, there seems to be more advantages for the audience then for institutions so to a certain degree, the audience have benefited the most from the changes new and digital media have had on the news industry.