The Impact of Technology on Journalism
John Hartley (2005) argues that the creative industries are ‘significant components of advanced economies’ and that in Australia the areas of digital media are growing at ‘twice the rate of the overall economy’. Richard Florida (2002) also identifies the fact that creativity has ‘come to be valued’, listing new technologies as one of the reasons for this, as well as the positive economic effects of these new technologies on the creative industries. In the age of technology creative industries professionals have the ability to become more successful than before. Social and technological changes of the last decade have resulted in an increase in demand for services and intangible products. This essay will argue that this shift away from tangible products creates new opportunities for Creative Industries professionals, increasing their capacity to create a sustainable career. This essay will focus on the fact that the rise of Internet journalism and the use of social media have created new opportunities. It will illustrate that despite popular belief, people are continuing to access news, with the usage of Internet based websites increasing in recent years, even if it is a subscription based service. Finally this essay will investigate, that whilst mainstream media has been declining, online journalism and journalism connected to social media have the potential to be an industry greater than main stream media, one which already has a wider audience, creating sustainable careers.
Journalism is one of the most rapidly changing sectors of the creative industries, with more and more people changing the way which they access their daily news. (Gross, 2010) Research conducted by Roy Morgan International (2010) illustrates that newspapers companies have increased their readership to a wider audience through the use of online media. The New York
Times readership has increased by 78% because of online media. Traditionally it has been argued that the shift towards news being available as an online service would result in the ‘death’ of mainstream media and journalism. The study however also found that in 2008 readers were willing to pay to access news content, with the readership of the Wall Street Journal increasing by 32% despite the fact that it operated using a ‘paid subscription’ model.
The paid subscription model is one, which News Corps Rupert Murdoch has expanded. Since 2008 the idea of digital newspaper subscriptions has become more commonplace with many companies creating paid iPad applications, which allows users to access the news for a monthly fee. Paid subscriptions have been largely successful, this is evident when taking into account that in 2010 the Wall Street Journal was the only of America’s top 25 weekly newspapers to grow in circulation, with this growth coming from the use of paid subscriptions. (Roy Morgan, 2010)
Although the iPad is a relatively new technology, in 2010, before the release of the Ipad 2, 20,000 people had subscribed to News Corp. companies’ iPad applications including 4,500 iPad subscriptions to The Australian. (Foo, 2010) Whilst the subscription costs a fraction of the price of a regular newspaper subscription it illustrates that the even with the shift away from news being a tangible product, that there is still the potential for newspapers to be a profitable business and create a sustainable career for journalists. (First Ipad Only newspaper debuts, 2011). The iPad itself has a growing market, however even the figures for newspaper usage on an iPad are promising to help establish a sustainable career in journalism. A 2010 Nielsen survey found that 53% of iPad users access the news regularly. (Long, 2010) Whilst news isn’t being accessed in the traditional manner, there is a growing market for the ability to access news from reputable organisations digitally even if payment is required.
The shift away from tangible products has also created new opportunities for journalism professionals, helping to establish sustainable careers. News can be now be accessed quicker than ever and from anywhere that an Internet connection is available. This means that journalists have the opportunity to share more news and break the news quicker. This is evident when comparing the way in which the news of September 11 was broken and the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death. The Internet played a far greater role in reporting Bin Laden’s death with news articles quickly made available to the public. (Sullivan, 2011)
Whilst it is commonly argued that social media and citizen journalism has hindered the opportunities for professional journalists, social media has in fact helped to increase the opportunities available to journalists. The Society of New Communications Research found that over 70% of journalists use social networks as a ‘reporting tool’. (Porter, 2009) Twitter plays the large role the sourcing information, with 47% of journalists using twitter to establish new story leads. ‘Social Media - Journalism’s FRIEND or FOE?’ (Grensing-Pophal, 2010) discusses that idea that journalists are able to make connections through social media that previously weren’t possible and in turn writing a wider range of stories.
Social networks are also helping journalists find an audience with 43% of social media users getting their news links posted by friends or other users on social networking sites, with Facebook being the most popular accounting for almost 8% of the CNN’s audience. (Hermida, 2011) This helps to illustrate that whilst people may use social networking sites like Facebook and twitter, they still seek news from reputable organisations.
The shift away from tangible services has also helped to create opportunities for specialised journalists. Research by the United States Department of Labor (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010) has found that journalists who have a specialised knowledge in areas such as science and technology will have greater career opportunities as there is now a wider, more global audience base. The Department of Labor also found that online newspapers and magazines provide the greatest job prospects for journalists in the coming years, illustrating that the Internet has helped to increase the capacity for journalists to have a sustainable career.
Although less profit is currently made from online journalism and other services and intangible products, the Internet currently looks to provide a sustainable career for journalists in the years to come. Revenue made from Internet journalism is increasing, making the future careers of journalists look promising. Between 2003 and 2008 profits from online journalism grew by $1.5 billion dollars. (Farhi, 2008) Author of ‘The Vanishing Newspaper’ Phillip Meyer has even identified online journalism as a way for companies to grow and cut costs at the same time. Whilst the ‘payoff’ may take longer Meyer believes that using the internet to cut costs and grow will leave news companies better off (Farhi, 2008), predicting that newspapers will cease to exist in 2040. (Murdoch, 2005)
The fate of journalism is debated amongst experts however, when asked to comment on the effect of the internet on journalism, founder of The Daily Beast, Tina Brown commented, ‘It is largely a good thing, but not without its growing pains. I see this very much as a transitional phase we are in…there is no doubt in my mind that when this volcanic realignment in media has finally shaken out… we will see a golden age of journalism and video.’ (Yarrow, 2009) With many industry experts positive about the future of internet journalism, it has the potential to help professional journalists continue to have a career even with the problems surrounding print based media.
The Internet is largely seen as the future of journalism, however Internet already plays a large role in journalism with over half of American’s accessing their news online. The New York Times had 13,372,000 online users compared to 1,120,420 weekday print readers in the same time period. (Karp, 2007) Whilst there is disagreement over a business model which will see journalism continue to profitable, there is clear evidence to support a sustainable career in journalism as news shifts from being a tangible product to, in most cases a service.
Medill School of Journalism Professor Rich Gordon believes money can be made from Internet journalism. Gordon (2005) attributes the money that can be made through Internet journalism to improvements in advertisement, including behavioral advertising. Gordon believes that in many specialist fields of journalism, sufficient revenue is already being made as companies within those industries are using advertising to target those interested.
CEO of News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, also believes that the future of journalism is positive and that those who are ‘bold’ will succeed. (Murdoch 2005). Whilst Murdoch’s model for the future of journalism relies on the user paying and not advertising revenue he still believes that technology has resulted in the future of journalism being ‘more promising than ever’. Some experts also believe that the Internet may help to ‘revive’ the newspaper, with the Internet also seen as a way to help increase the falling circulation of print media. This was evident in the case of local newspaper in America, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which charges viewers for access to their site. The relatively small circulation increased by 2,000 in six months, with publisher Walter Hussman Jr. attributing this growth to the Internet site. (Farhi, 2008).
Journalism is changing along with the way in which we access our news, however the Internet looks to help create a sustainable career for journalists. With advances in technology and more and more people relying on the Internet as a source of news, journalists are presented with a wealth of new opportunities, including the opportunity to reach a bigger audience and publish better stories. Although the future of journalism is still relatively unknown, expert opinions seem to indicate that there will be a sustainable career in the age of the Internet for journalism professionals, with Internet journalism also providing the opportunity for organisations to expand their print circulation.
Reference List
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United States Department of Labor. “Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition.” Last Modified September 29, 2010.
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