Journalism and the Web. Newspapers used to make the news. Now, they are the news. Rupert Murdock...

Journalism and the Web

Newspapers used to make the news. Now, they are the news.

• Rupert Murdock• Cyclical trough• Decline in paid

circulation• Bankruptcy• Causal factors: economy

and internet

The Newspaper

• Newspaper seen as a “living text”.

• Documenting history as it occurred.

• Changed very little since.

Disadvantages:• Updated daily.• Failed to keep up with

advancing society.• Yesterday’s news.

Irony

• Demand for news is high but people are not willing to pay for it.

• Comparable to the music industry.

Consumers of Journalism

• Free news on web.• Search engines changing readers’ habits.• Greater and quicker searching capabilities.

RSS Feed• Really simple

syndication or rich site summary.

• Frequently updated.• Feed Readers: iGoogle,

My Yahoo and MSN.• Constant breaking News

ticker• “Internet killed the

newspaper star”

Online Newspapers

• The Washington Post• The New York Times• Global access

• HTML does not spell salvation.

• Fees?

The New York Times

• Nytimes.com• TimesSelect• No to subscriptions• Who are the

competitors?

News Aggregation Websites

• Contains collected headlines

• Yahoo! News, Google News, Drudge Report, Huffington Post and breitbart.com

• Google Fast Flip• Anachronistic• Failures of print

Flaws

• “Data Smog”- Journalist David Shenk

• Volume overwhelming• Difficult to navigate• 80% contains

newspaper content• Newspaper industry

being ripped-off

Internet vs. Newspaper

• Issues of authority and reliability

• Who can we trust?• Blogs and Twitter vs.

pure Journalism• Death of reliable news?• Accountability

substituted by Bloggers

Citizen Journalism

• Good or Bad?• Yahoo! Buzz and Digg• Community based• Citizens and Journalists

collaborating

Future

• Meyer predicts September 2043• Perhaps sooner? • URLs are here to stay• Must embrace new media• Nick Bilton: “Paper is dying but it’s just a device.

Replacing it with pixels is a better experience.”

Hybrid Form

• Part-print and part-internet• AnnArbor.com• Limited printed editions• Social interaction

Death or Rebirth?

• Cannot simply copy-and-paste• Mobile devices like the iPhone• Interactive multimedia• Layout of Print• Minority Report’s e-Newspaper