The article explains how newspapers have lost the most to the internet and this is evident across the USA, western Europe, Australia and New Zealand. This has been issue that has been going on for decades, however, the decline has intensively hastened over the last few years. “The Vanishing Newspaper” by Philip Meyer estimates that by 2043 the newsprint will die in America. This sort of theory, is obscure to some, however more young people are turning to the internet for their news. Britons aged between 15 and 24 say they spend almost 30% less time reading national newspapers once they start using the web. Advertising is another element addressed within the article - how it has dominated the internet and is almost everywhere. Switzerland and the Netherlands newspaper's have lost half their classified advertising to the internet. The article focuses on the fact that the newspaper industry has not yet been completely wiped out but gradually the small institutions are beginning to be effected - popular conglomerates are trying their hardest to maintain their status as a print platform. Furthermore, the new force of “citizen” journalists and bloggers are introduced and the article explains how the web has opened the closed world of professional editors and reporters and is now available to anyone with a keyboard and an internet connection. Consequently, some professionals have suffered from this. The article finalises with their idea that in the future an elite group of serious newspapers will be available everywhere online, alongside, independent journalism backed by charities, thousands of bloggers and citizen journalists.
1) Do you agree with its view that it is ‘a cause for concern, but not for panic’?
Respected publications like The New York Times are able to put up the prices of their newspapers to compensate for the loss of advertising revenues - good quality journalism can be paid for but in a society where most youths expect their news to be free, I think it is definitely a concern for the future as the newspaper industry will fall in higher decline.
2) The article is 10 years old - an eternity in digital media terms. Have the writer's predictions come to pass? Use statistics from your Ofcom research to support or challenge the writer's argument
The article believes that the newspaper industry will be in decline; according to Ofcom the reach of newspapers has decreased more than 27% since 2005 and 72.4% in 2005 would have used newspapers and in 2015 45.4% use newspapers, revealing the decline of newspapers. "Some high-quality journalism will also be backed by non-profit organisations [...] An elite group of serious newspapers available everywhere online, independent journalism backed by charities, thousands of fired-up bloggers and well-informed citizen journalists" The New York Times has increased their prices in order to make more money, however as part of New York culture, reading the NY Times is something that is part of their culture and therefore consumers would not mind paying more money for high quality journalism.
3) The Economist suggests that high-quality journalism in the future will be backed by non-profit organisations rather than profit-seeking media corporations. Is there any evidence for this? How is the Guardian funded? What do major stories from the last year such as the Panama Papers suggest about how investigative journalism is conducted in the digital age?
The Guardian is funded by the Scott Trust Limited and they also have a charitable wing, the Scott Trust Foundation, overseeing The Guardian. The Panama Papers is a great example of investigative journalism and the difference that it makes to have social media and the online platform to rapidly upload information and get it exposed to a large group of people quickly.
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