The Future of Journalism

This assignment examines the evolving landscape of journalism in the face of technological advancements and economic shifts. It delves into various aspects of the field, including citizen journalism, social media's impact, public interest journalism, and the role of online platforms. Students are tasked with analyzing trends, challenges, and opportunities that shape the future of news production and consumption.

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COM308e - Analysis of Issues and
Trends in the Communication Industry

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Question 1
The advent of the Internet has disrupted the old business model for newspapers.
Digitalisation, convergence and audience fragmentation, fuelled by the World Wide Web,
have changed the media ecosystem and challenged established journalistic practices. As a
result, traditional newspapers are experimenting with ways to keep journalism alive despite
the digital evolution.
Conduct research* on ONE (1) English-language online newspaper from Singapore or
overseas to determine how successfully it has reinvented itself to meet the challenge posed by
the digital revolution. In your research project, you must:
a) Analyse the changing trends in the news industry, and evaluate the opportunities for and
challenges faced by the news industry. (20 marks)
b) Propose a research question and select an appropriate research method to determine how
successfully the online newspaper had reinvented itself to meet the challenge posed by the
digital evolution. Appraise the suitability of the research method used and examine the
research findings. (40 marks)
c) Use the market model or the public sphere model, or both, to evaluate the way the online
newspaper in (b) serves its audience. Prepare an action plan to recommend changes the online
newspaper should make in order to reach its audience more effectively in the digital age. (40
marks)

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a) Communication Industry is a booming industry. People these days, with the advent of
internet and smartphones, mostly go through online news reporting. Journalism has evolved
and printing machines have become better and bigger. With the evolving technology, digital
news also continues to evolve. Some of the technologies being virtual reality, automated
reporting to social media experiments etc. which have only helped widen the coverage of
news. About 4/10 US citizens refer to online news only (Cho, Keum & Shah, 2015). An
interesting and important trend in the world of online newspapers.
Smart phones are becoming the preferred device instead of television sets. From 54% in 2013
the mobile news readers’ base had gone up to 72% in 2017. When talking about content, long
form contents which are 1000 words or more attract more engaged time than short form news
items. The number of readers is about the same though. Social media platforms with their
uniqueness have also become a channel to read news about happenings around the globe.
Pews Research has shown that that about 2/3rds of Facebook users read their news on
Facebook which is about 44% in the US alone (Anderson, 2013). Online journalism has also
evolved in the sense that people read their news while doing other activities online but do not
leave the chance to dig deep and seek the news out. While some users may be divided on
accepting the news on social media as genuine, it still is accountable for 4% of web users
who trust the news a lot and about 34% say they trust it to some extent (Paulussen & Harder,
2014).
Earlier on, media houses ‘produced’ the news and controlled its distribution channels.
Nowadays platform organizations, Governments are exactly in between the readers and the
reporters (Fico et al., 2013). Editors can’t control their own work which circulates on various
platforms. Journalists have pressure to be at the right spot at right time-be where the people
are and yet what is happening to their readers is unknown to them.

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News reporting has evolved a lot over years. In the beginning, when people felt the need to
share relevant information, they used to rely on pigeons, owls, messengers, royal drum
beaters etc. With the inception of newspapers, news reporting took the form of story telling
combined with critical views and inputs substantiated with proof of data. The tabloid form of
news reporting followed the inverted pyramid style with priority top position provided to
important news and not so important ones towards the bottom. This usually got chopped off
in editing stage on basis of availability of space. Then, there is hourglass style. It enjoys the
benefits of both narrative and inverted pyramid style of reporting (Craig, 2013). There is
intense competition among different media conglomerates these days, the race to present the
news first to an audience often even compels them to present news in a lucid manner but
without manufactured views. Another reporting style – David Murphy's Level-1, Level-2,
and Level-3 is well practiced these days.
The research shall analyze content from 2 well-known media houses—CNN International and
Al-Jazeera website. The content considered for analysis is from both the websites covering
Middle-East conflicts. The news article covered was recapturing Raqqa from ISIS. Below is
the analysis:
Al-Jazeera CNN
Linguistic aspect:
Headline
Lead
Body
Words accompanying visuals (if
any)
Headline looked to the point and
was self-explanatory. The
headline gave an impression that
Al Jazeera was concentrating on
current turmoil.
The news articles were as per
quote by a rights group –
Amnesty International. There was
no mention of leads for the story
The Headline was easy to
understand. It gave out a feeling
that CNN was focusing on
ordeals of survivors in Raqqa
since the time offensive had
begun.
The news article was as per quote
by Amnesty International. There
was mention of their two

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except the source at the very end
of the article.
The news article seemed detailed
and to the point. It talked about
instances at various locations
which were making things
difficult for Syrian army to
evacuate survivors
The website supplied readers with
a proper map showing current
ISIS strongholds which make it
easier to understand the position
in less time. Thereafter there were
3 other pictures showing the
plight of people from Raqqa. A
video had been also posted on the
same page for the viewers to see
and decide for themselves. The
word count was about 1000
words. (Gerhards & Schafer,
2014.)
reporters who had written the
report
The news article was not properly
detailed on current processes
being carried out for proper
evacuation. There were many
quotes and sources from where
they had taken information.
Overall the article looked a half
attempt
CNN article had a video that
started playing by itself. It
showed their two correspondents
accompanying soldiers to
outskirts of Raqqa with
background gunshot audible.
There was another video of one
of the survivors and her plight
with a child in tow. It was
informative but did not do much
justice to the cause of the article.
The word count was less than 300
words. (Hellmueller & Li, 2015)
Structure of news story The structure of the story was that
on an inverted pyramid.
The structure of the story was
inverted pyramid.
Visuals (if any) Yes, ample pictures and videos to
support the story.
Location of news story Location is Raqqa city of Syria Raqqa city of Syria.
News story broadcasted on a TV
channel, i.e. Al-Jazeera English
Yes. Yes.

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and CNN.

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b) For the purpose of the research, the question considered is -- what design is the best design
for an online newspaper to gain maximum viewership?
When we talk of online newspapers, it is important to note that a proper online newspaper got
published only in 1994 post which there was an explosion of the same. Though earlier,
publishers used to dilly and dally electronic dissemination of graphics and related texts, in
1994, Palo Alto Weekly was published. An important process of online newspapers is the
constant struggle of publishers/editors on what best web technology to use to establish their
online newspaper as popular as printed ones. To report the apparent requirement of
information, genre theory has been used in the research (McGrath, 2015). Specifically, to
develop empirical design base recommendation for an online newspaper. Genres keep on
changing with time. They could be characterized by content, positioning, form etc. The genre
rules for online newspapers are decided by publisher and audience unanimously reflected by
consumption patterns. Genre awareness is actually a notion of how publishers and audience
together reduce web complexity (Kopytowska, 2015). If a new site with the similar intention
of that of an existing one is brought into existence, usually the characteristics are kept same
and presentation is more or less suited. It is of extreme importance that users’ expectations
are met.
Earlier researches conducted on newspaper designs to be published online relied heavily on
experimental designs and mostly on surveys. Research on design mostly entails information
location, features of content, interactive functions etc. To gain a comprehensive
understanding of the same, a qualitative research was conducted. To get data, web page
analysis, based on content, form, positioning, and functionality was done. This was also to
study design change genres. The study brought out various genre rules evolved post analysis
of the purpose of the design of the publisher, audience recognition and value add using
interview techniques as well as usability tests.

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To get a proper understanding of online newspaper designs, a qualitative study was done.
Interviews were conducted with the editor in chiefs of nine Swedish newspapers,
management and designers as well. About 153 users were also tested as part of the usability
test. This was so that important information such as genre rules based on design purpose set
by publishers and recognition as well as the use of audiences (Lewis, Holton & Coddington,
2014). The research also covered front pages of nine Swedish online papers from 2015-2016.
First from 2015 and then again in 2016. This gave an indication towards info such as genre
characteristics and design changes in the genre. The first analysis was more to collect ideas
and interpret respondent statements and the later one in 2016, to check on the features which
sold most and gained further importance. Typically, the three reasons to approach the
publishers, customers and online newspapers(Swedish) was primarily to gain knowledge on
the design and usability of online newspaper publications. a. Swedish population is the 4th
largest newspaper reading nation in the world and have 4th largest newspaper consumption in
the world. b. Sweden has almost all its publications’ online versions and c. research showed
that it was the fourth popular activity online which people did. Analysis started with web
page analysis of the first page of all 9 online newspapers after gaining agreement from
publishers of 9 Swedish newspapers. This provided access to even the customers. This helped
a lot in preparing a sample of 153 users across Sweden. Post analysis of the first page,
interviews were conducted with publishers. This was more to understand the logic they used
in designing the page. Semi-formal structured interviews conducted with some management
members, editor in chiefs and page designers was also conducted. These types of the
audience were selected as there was the need to collect data which only they could shed light
on mostly on designing and creating a design page. The interviews were recorded and later
transcribed as well (von Krogh & Andersson, 2016). This showed an immense trend. To
conduct the usability test, newspapers were asked to float the survey on their URL itself

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which the audience had the option to fill and submit. Selection of answers was categorized
into age, education, gender and internet usage. The sample size ultimately came down to 153.
The interviews/usability test centered around customers’ interaction with the online
newspaper, their level of interaction.
The sessions usually started with a standard usability test adopting the think-aloud technique
for approximately 15 minutes where the audience would analyze their own interaction level
with the online paper. The interview followed a structured guide to get the answers for same
questions from all respondents across Sweden. Sections from interview guide were created to
match the collection of elements from the page itself. Respondents were in front of their own
computers. This was so that they could ‘show’ how they did certain tasks on the website and
so that they could relate to the activity itself. Almost 53 interview questions which had been
grouped into 5 different categories were used; (1) Steering and construction, (2) Reading
favorites, (3) Layout, (4) Trademark and dependability and (5) Others. For the sake of
research data collected was from 1st 3 categories only and every interview lasted for about 40
minutes. The analysis was replicated with what was done above for publishers. The results
were:
a. Content Elements – There were a lot of navigation errors which customers put up like
for navigating they needed to go back to home page and click on other articles always
(Karlsson, Clerwall & Ornebring, 2015). This was rectified, navigation was made
clearer and user-friendly (Vu, 2014). Categories of news items are rather much
detailed now to cater to specific choices of varied interests of customers instead of
generalizing it under concise categories. More and better visual aids in form of
pictures and even videos are provided.
b. Design purpose – Earlier, the purpose of the design was mostly to replicate the printed
editions. Respondents said that there were never more than two clicks on a page. This

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was why they had to go back to the main page to browse. This changed in later
editions where customers had options to go to other materials using drop down
options.
c. Audience usability review – Most of the news websites were not user-friendly. Some
which excelled had a good layout and customers responded that they had a good
overview reading captions under different categories however for other pages it was
unclear. There was a search and navigation bar right at the bottom of the page which
made things difficult for them.

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c) When analyzing using the market model to see how the newspapers' online edition is serving
the customers, it is seen that:
1. these are private companies each presenting a product (Franklin, 2014)
2. All audiences are consumers
3. Present news that is popular
4. Success is measured through popularity which helps milk profit (Ferrucci, 2015)
5. all newspapers which are online are ultimately products, bundled with advertisements or
items of interest
6. All online newspaper agencies are answerable to stakeholders/owners (Waisbord, 2013)
Recommendations which could be provided regarding the design are mostly around the same
features which were taken for study, in terms of functionality/purpose, form, and layout.
Certain recommendations which could be easily implemented so that the e-papers reached
their audiences with better efficiency are:
a. To use the front-page length to provide a layout of the website itself – as most
audiences pointed out that they returned to the home page to restart navigating to
other articles. Many users usually relied on their experience of going through the
printed paper while going through the front page of the online paper. Publishers do
keep it longer as scrolling down gives an impression of the experience of going
through an actual paper. That is also the reason why publishers also relied on the
categories from printed editions when zeroing in on design-another relevance for
opting for ‘broadsheet’ allegory for selecting layouts
b. A broadsheet metaphor to be used – In terms of categories and divisions, the online e-
paper resembled the printed versions. Even the readers loved referring to the online
version of the newspaper. On an average, the general opinion is always that the online
version is different than the printed version. Producers are almost always in a fix

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when presenting new services, unlike audiences who have no issues. It is hereby
recommended to opt for broadsheet metaphor for layouts for the sake of familiarity
c. Providing alternate options to navigate on site – Since both, the publishers are
audiences suffered due to this same reason, additional efforts need to be made to
improve navigation on site. Good content is also characterized by proper navigation,
the length of the front page needs to be utilized
d. Ads could be made a part of the navigation banners itself – To gain maximum effect
advertisements are always either on top or right of the page. The navigation banner
serves the purpose of navigation and nothing else.
e. Recent news should be positioned on top – recent news if placed on top shall provide
audiences with an update and it would be also easier to pick for reading (Sjovaag,
2016)
f. Providing time stamps for recent new articles – by providing time stamps, again it
would indicate that the news is recent and customers would be drawn to it
g. A single search facility for finding archived and current articles – Some people are not
even aware of such a button but there are few audience members who use the search
facility and the remaining find it problematic. Confusion around this was this that
certain newspapers did not place the current articles under archive till the next day.
The search mostly yielded no results in case the new belonged to the same day. If
mostly, newspapers followed the policy of keeping even current articles under archive
then a lot of confusion could be avoided. Also, it must be placed in a position where it
could be seen easily
Post adoption of a genre perspective on the design aspect of online newspapers, a set of
design recommendations could be arrived at. This sort of perspective on design exposed the
consumers’ outlooks of the genre. It also facilitated the designers of online newspapers to

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work upon the awareness of genre by refining its characteristics. The outcomes should be
essentially viewed as a phase in the development of the online newspapers stages to
becoming popular and familiar to customers.
As part of the research, the usability test and the interviews that were conducted revealed a
lot about the features of the sites which were being used but meant for a separate purpose.
Example – the headers, navigation items etc. The research helped reveal the features which
were problematic as per audience and exactly the problem with it. Example – search bar, also
the fact that the search bar did not yield current news under archive.
The rules of the genre hence were revealed were mostly drawn from expressions and/or
engagements illuminating how publishers and audience, each relied on the same feature to
fulfill their own purposes (Andersson & Wadbring, 2015). For e.g. to give and get a familiar
frame of reference. The analysis also revealed how the features were different from their
previous versions. Since each of the sites differed in features, the research helped shed light
on what audiences thought. This was analyzed considering their responses (Nilsson &
Wadbring, 2015). The process turned out to be beneficial. For case, the research revealed that
the audiences of the online newspapers could easily differentiate the value of a particular
news item by simply observing the headings, puffs etc. They also noticed that on a single
page itself, there seemed to be many items of same ranked value. The 2015 analysis indicated
towards the features which were crucial and later on, the same features had gained a lot of
dominance, for example – positioning of recent news articles on top owing to factors such as,
e.g. news appraisal. Research conducted later indicated that the position importance was
directly proportional to the length of the front page.
To rethink about taking a genre viewpoint of the design so as to, drive recommendations on
design, succeed at making more of a universal guideline when designing sections of genres of
online newspapers. Several studies have pointed out that user-friendly and language of users

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themselves should be used. Some of the recommendations provided above such as navigation
pointers, broadsheet metaphor etc. to be used are the same concept. The limitation is that the
recommendations only apply to the genre of online newspapers, hence; they have a narrow
applicability. For further efficacy, more research could be conducted which could elaborate
on proposed design commendations. This could be genre specific in collective collaboration
with audiences and publishers. Such a study would also explicate the development story
which could be genre based. Keeping the genre based perspectives stable, further designs
could be developed over time so as to, present the articles in the best possible presentation
format for audience consumption.

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References
Books
Anderson, C. W. (2013). Rebuilding the news: Metropolitan journalism in the digital age. Temple
University.
Waisbord, S. (2013). Reinventing professionalism: Journalism and news in global perspective.
John Wiley & Sons.
Journals
Craig, R. (2013). News writing and reporting: The complete guide for today's journalist. Oxford
University Press.
Cho, J., Keum, H., & Shah, D. V. (2015). News consumers, opinion leaders, and citizen
consumers: Moderators of the consumption–participation link. Journalism & Mass
Communication Quarterly, 92(1), 161-178.
Gerhards, J., & Schäfer, M. S. (2014). International terrorism, domestic coverage? How terrorist
attacks are presented in the news of CNN, Al Jazeera, the BBC, and ARD. International
Communication Gazette, 76(1), 3-26.
Hellmueller, L., & Li, Y. (2015). Contest over content: A longitudinal study of the CNN iReport
effect on the journalistic field. Journalism Practice, 9(5), 617-633.
Fico, F., Lacy, S., Wildman, S. S., Baldwin, T., Bergan, D., & Zube, P. (2013). Citizen journalism
sites as information substitutes and complements for United States newspaper coverage of local
governments. Digital Journalism, 1(1), 152-168.

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Paulussen, S., & Harder, R. A. (2014). Social media references in newspapers: Facebook, Twitter
and YouTube as sources in newspaper journalism. Journalism Practice, 8(5), 542-551.
Lewis, S. C., Holton, A. E., & Coddington, M. (2014). Reciprocal journalism: A concept of mutual
exchange between journalists and audiences. Journalism Practice, 8(2), 229-241.
Kopytowska, M. (2015). Covering conflict: between universality and cultural specificity in news
discourse, genre and journalistic style. International Review of Pragmatics, 7(2), 308-339.
Franklin, B. (2014). The Future of Journalism: In an age of digital media and economic
uncertainty.
Andersson, U., & Wadbring, I. (2015). Public interest or self-interest? How journalism attracts
future journalists. Journal of Media Practice, 16(2), 126-138.
Ferrucci, P. (2015). Public journalism no more: The digitally native news nonprofit and public
service journalism. Journalism, 16(7), 904-919.
Vu, H. T. (2014). The online audience as gatekeeper: The influence of reader metrics on news
editorial selection. Journalism, 15(8), 1094-1110.
von Krogh, T., & Andersson, U. (2016). Reading Patterns in Print and Online Newspapers: The
case of the Swedish local morning paper VLT and online news site vlt. se. Digital
Journalism, 4(8), 1058-1072.

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Karlsson, M., Clerwall, C., & Örnebring, H. (2015). Hyperlinking practices in Swedish online
news 2007–2013: the rise, fall, and stagnation of hyperlinking as a journalistic
tool. Information, Communication & Society, 18(7), 847-863.
Sjøvaag, H. (2016). Introducing the Paywall: A case study of content changes in three online
newspapers. Journalism Practice, 10(3), 304-322.
Nilsson, M., & Wadbring, I. (2015). Not Good Enough. Journalism Practice, 1-18.