The end of free news?
By Sarah Kraus
Reporting Techiques 2001
Photo by Adam Miller, one-year program
Be prepared to start paying for the news content you find online.
The former futurist for the New York Times, Michael Rogers, says that the increasingly popular model of free, online journalism cannot sustain itself into the future with its current lack of income.
Speaking at the seventh annual Joseph Howe Symposium on the future of the news media, Rogers focused on how multimedia news outlets must now answer the burgeoning question facing journalists today – “who pays for news?”
Michael Rogers Photo by Adam Miller
In his speech to approximately 150 young journalists, faculty from the hosting University of King’s College, and other interested spectators, Rogers noted that “the model that you are going to see begin to evolve in 2010-11 is some kind of free news supported by advertising, plus some kind of pay scale.”
This sentiment was echoed by the University of King’s College’s president, Dr. William Barker, who said that “communication forms don’t displace one another, they just add onto one another. The new and old are going to learn to exist side by side.”
While journalistic research is traditionally funded by the sale of hard-copy newspapers, commercial advertising and classified ads, the movement to online news has put a strain on these sources of income. Websites have slowly been luring away the profitable businesses that once provided the money to pay for news reporting.
The news is then left to stand alone to provide profits for media organizations. And “news unfortunately, is a cost center and not a profit center,” so by converting to online news sources, Rogers said “we are trading analog dollars for digital dimes.”
Despite the funding issues associated with multimedia news forms, Rogers still believes that online news is the way of the future. Technological advances, network changes and an evolving audience will all propel journalism in the coming years. He said that strong, investigative journalism is expensive but “you have to believe that there is an audience for quality news, and that is an audience that will pay something for it.”
While journalism is transitioning off paper and into cyberspace, consumers have largely been able to access quality journalism for free. Although some may argue that it is too late to switch to subscription style journalism, Rogers said that as soon as “there is a lack of quality content, people will begin to pay for it.”
Miranda Spessot, a 19-year-old Dalhousie University student, disagreed with Rogers. Despite the fact that she believes the news to be a valuable asset to society and frequently checks the Yahoo Inc. website, she, “Would never pay to read the news online.” Instead, she hopes that her friends could fill her in on what is happening by word of mouth.
Rogers knows that people like Spessot are out there. But he looks at her generation as a new consumer for journalism, instead of a deterrent for moving forward. “The good news is that there are far more consumers of journalism today than there were 50 years ago. The internet has really expanded our reach.”
He also said that emerging technology will allow online journalism to become even more appealing to the average consumer, potentially to the point where they are willing to pay the money required to access it. QR codes, tablets, e-readers and the expansion of wireless networking zones are all aimed at making multimedia news more convenient.
Some people are already taking notice of these advantages.
An undergraduate journalism student, Marika McKenzie, said that accessing news “online is really easy because it has hyperlinks everywhere so if you find one story you’re interested in, it can help you find other ones on the same topic. Newspapers just have one story, and they’re not as detailed and often don’t have pictures.”
It is this type of outlook that allows Rogers to be optimistic about the future. “Of all the changes you’ve seen in journalism to date, the past decade is really just the beginning, because it is going to accelerate from here on. The possibilities are enormous.”
Антон Павлович
March 17th, 2010 at 2:54 am #
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Kylie Batt
April 12th, 2010 at 3:10 am #
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Kylie Batt
April 20th, 2010 at 9:33 pm #
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Kylie Batt
May 4th, 2010 at 12:27 pm #
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By Sarah Kraus
Reporting Techiques 2001
Photo by Adam Miller, one-year program
Be prepared to start paying for the news content you find online…..
Любомир
June 6th, 2010 at 7:45 am #
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дискотека 90-х )))) « Играй в S.T.A.L.K.E.R. …