Newspapers: The death of print media blog tasks
Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and openFactsheet 165: The death of print media. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets
Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:
1) What has happened to print media in the last 30 years?
People have since had picked up the ability to end up makers of the media as they can get to all data for nothing with the flexibility of the web. Print media has gone from being one of the key or only sources of media for people and one of the only ways to find out the news and get information about what was going on in the world, however this new wave of online news and social media has meant that people are able to access their news almost instantly and that too at no cost, which has meant to the clear decline in print media, leading to a decline in profits and even forced some print media companies to close down.
2) Why is the Independent newspaper such a good case study for the decline in print media?
At its top in the late 90s, it had a flow around 280,000, which is not a lot compared to other print media such as the Sun which had a readership of around 3.5 million, however we can see that many similar print media companies of a similar size which would have been making a substantial amount of money from a readership of this size have had to close down due to costs outweighing their profits or them simply not making enough.
3) What was the Independent newspaper famous for?
it advertised the fact that it was "free from political bias, free from proprietorial influence", which allowed audiences to believe that they were a very reliable newspaper which wouldn't avoid stories due to the fact that they were against what they believed and it allowed it self to be the newspaper for everyone.
4) What did the then-owner of the Independent, Evgeny Lebedev, say about the newspaper's digital-only future?
“The newspaper industry is changing, and that change is being driven by readers. They’re showing us that the future is digital. This decision preserves the Independent brand and allows us to continue to invest in the high quality editorial content that is attracting more and more readers to our online platforms.” Evegeny Lebedev
5) How do online newspapers make money?
Online newspapers monetise through using a paywall on articles and online subscriptions, although they do also use adverting to create revenue, even though the market is dominated by firms such as Google.
6) What did the Independent's longest-serving editor Simon Kelner warn regarding the switch to digital?
“For me, the power of the Independent came from the variety of voices, the originality in its design and the iconoclastic feel of the paper. It is very difficult to replicate that in digital form". Her main warning did revolve mainly around her warning the public of fake news as the news would be in the hands of the public on social media.
7) What is the concern with fake news? What does 'post-truth' refer to?
That people are being mis-informed, due to online news being easy to set up and anyone can post anything leading to a global audience being informed wrong. Online news sites are easy to set up, and the simple news format is easy to replicate. Unlike printed media, the people who publish this fake news have nothing to lose in the form that they do not have a reputation to uphold and will not be losing money by people not reading their content next time.
8) What is your view on the decline in print media? Should news be free? Is it a concern that established media brands such as the Independent can no longer afford to exist as a printed newspaper?
I think that the media companies need to be able to appeal to the younger audiences as before it was unlikely that their target audiences are young readers, however the number of young readers are lower than ever before and this is because people in this age group are used to being provided their content for free due to the introduction of social media pages which provide news content for free on a platform which they are going to be on regularly and they are able to share with their friends.
1) What has happened to print media in the last 30 years?
People have since had picked up the ability to end up makers of the media as they can get to all data for nothing with the flexibility of the web. Print media has gone from being one of the key or only sources of media for people and one of the only ways to find out the news and get information about what was going on in the world, however this new wave of online news and social media has meant that people are able to access their news almost instantly and that too at no cost, which has meant to the clear decline in print media, leading to a decline in profits and even forced some print media companies to close down.
2) Why is the Independent newspaper such a good case study for the decline in print media?
At its top in the late 90s, it had a flow around 280,000, which is not a lot compared to other print media such as the Sun which had a readership of around 3.5 million, however we can see that many similar print media companies of a similar size which would have been making a substantial amount of money from a readership of this size have had to close down due to costs outweighing their profits or them simply not making enough.
3) What was the Independent newspaper famous for?
it advertised the fact that it was "free from political bias, free from proprietorial influence", which allowed audiences to believe that they were a very reliable newspaper which wouldn't avoid stories due to the fact that they were against what they believed and it allowed it self to be the newspaper for everyone.
4) What did the then-owner of the Independent, Evgeny Lebedev, say about the newspaper's digital-only future?
“The newspaper industry is changing, and that change is being driven by readers. They’re showing us that the future is digital. This decision preserves the Independent brand and allows us to continue to invest in the high quality editorial content that is attracting more and more readers to our online platforms.” Evegeny Lebedev
5) How do online newspapers make money?
Online newspapers monetise through using a paywall on articles and online subscriptions, although they do also use adverting to create revenue, even though the market is dominated by firms such as Google.
6) What did the Independent's longest-serving editor Simon Kelner warn regarding the switch to digital?
“For me, the power of the Independent came from the variety of voices, the originality in its design and the iconoclastic feel of the paper. It is very difficult to replicate that in digital form". Her main warning did revolve mainly around her warning the public of fake news as the news would be in the hands of the public on social media.
7) What is the concern with fake news? What does 'post-truth' refer to?
That people are being mis-informed, due to online news being easy to set up and anyone can post anything leading to a global audience being informed wrong. Online news sites are easy to set up, and the simple news format is easy to replicate. Unlike printed media, the people who publish this fake news have nothing to lose in the form that they do not have a reputation to uphold and will not be losing money by people not reading their content next time.
8) What is your view on the decline in print media? Should news be free? Is it a concern that established media brands such as the Independent can no longer afford to exist as a printed newspaper?
I think that the media companies need to be able to appeal to the younger audiences as before it was unlikely that their target audiences are young readers, however the number of young readers are lower than ever before and this is because people in this age group are used to being provided their content for free due to the introduction of social media pages which provide news content for free on a platform which they are going to be on regularly and they are able to share with their friends.
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