What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Columbia Journalism School | Tow Center for Digital JournalismChapter 4The New New Media: Mobile, Video and Other Emerging PlatformsNews organizations can be forgiven for feeling that they’re in an endless cycleof Whac-A-Mole.They’ve had 15 years to get onto the Internet, and for much of that time theexperience was limited largely to words and photos on a Web page, accessed ona personal computer. But more recently, journalism has been blessed and bedeviledby a stream of follow-on innovations. As a result, most organizations havetried to develop new ways to report and distribute stories, and many are makingsubstantial investments so their work will appear on attractive new devices. Theirhope is that these new kinds of digital journalism will enhance companies’ earnings;their fear is that if they don’t adapt, they will lose audiences’ attention andthe revenue it brings.It hasn’t been easy. Video has been seen as a great way to get more sustainedengagement, but many news organizations have found it to be expensive and difficultto produce. And even though ad rates are three to five times what regulardisplay ads bring, video often doesn’t get enough traffic to attract substantial revenue.Mobile devices, meanwhile, provide consumers with greater access to news,but the small screen size can be a nightmare for designers and a poor display spacefor advertisers. Tablets—particularly the iPad—have looked like a more immersiveexperience for readers, and a more likely venue for subscriptions and higherad revenue. But their luster has dimmed as the dominant manufacturer, Apple, hasinsisted on charging high fees and controlling economically valuable informationabout customers. Each new device brings an additional level of complexity andexpense. Not long ago, “convergence” was the keyword in news production, astelevision, newspaper, magazine and pure online sites all started to look the same.Now comes a new “divergence,” in which online journalism organizations mustdistribute news into distinctly different modes of presentation.The New New Media: Mobile, Video and Other Emerging Platforms 55
The Story So Far: What We Know About the Business of Digital JournalismThe iPad has been a hit: Expectations are that about 30 million devices willhave shipped by the end of 2011. 1 But while analysts expect the iPad to capturemore than 90 percent of the tablet market in 2011, competitors are enteringthe fray. Tablet manufacturers have announced that more than 25 brands will beavailable in 2011, at screen sizes ranging from five to 11 inches. 2Audiences are fragmenting in other ways, too—in their interests and habits.The conflict is evident in the behavior of Michael Harwayne, vice president ofdigital strategy and development at Time Inc. Harwayne lives in Manhattan andtakes the subway to work. He likes to read the Wall Street Journal on his commute,but lately the question has been: Which format works best?Harwayne likes the Amazon Kindle. When the Journal became available onthat device in the spring of 2009, he decided to pay an extra $10 per month forthe convenience, though he was already paying $363 per year for the print andweb editions. The Kindle price rose to $15 per month a year later.But there was no connection between his print/online subscription and theKindle edition, and Harwayne found it annoying to be billed separately. Then,in May 2010, came the Wall Street Journal iPad app, which he got as part ofhis overall subscription. It’s not that it was “free,” but because he didn’t haveto pay a separate fee, it felt free. Still, he said, “I didn’t like carrying it andreading it on the subway, so I never actually canceled the Kindle until I had alightweight alternative.”In the fall of 2010, he was introduced to a Samsung tablet. He liked it morethan the iPad, so he switched to the Journal’s Android version (which is alsoincluded in his core subscription to the paper) and finally canceled his Kindlesubscription. But Harwayne wondered, “Why shouldn’t I be able to read thepaper on any device I have?”In March 2011, he learned that he’ll eventually have to pay an additional$17.29 a month to keep his iPad or Android version of the Wall Street Journal.Through it all, the one thing that hasn’t changed is that Harwayne likes to readthe print version of the Journal after a long day at work. Still, it “seems like a verystrange consumer strategy,” he says.56
Page 1 and 2:
The Story So FarWhat We Know About
Page 3 and 4:
Columbia Journalism School | Tow Ce
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7: Columbia Journalism School | Tow Ce
Page 10 and 11: The Story So Far: What We Know Abou
Page 22: The Story So Far: What We Know Abou
Page 60 and 61: Columbia Journalism School | Tow Ce
Page 108 and 109:
Page 110 and 111:
Page 112 and 113:
Page 114 and 115:
Page 116 and 117:
Page 118 and 119:
Page 120:
Page 123 and 124:
The Story So Far: What We Know Abou
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 132 and 133:
Page 134 and 135:
Page 136 and 137:
Page 138 and 139:
Page 140:
Page 143:
show all

What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?