The ilecture this week by Mingnon Hardlow really opened my eyes to the role news media plays in a democracy. Hardlow states that the four estates that make up a democracy are the Judiciary, the Government, the Executive Government and Free Press who plays a watchdog function and keeps the general public informed (Harlow 2011).
With such an important role in society, I started to wonder about the credibility of news sources. It has long been known that magazines pay people for interviews and report gossip and rumor - often referred to as tabloids but does this cross over into the world of news? Especially online news, where anyone with an internet connection can become a reporter, quickly and easily uploading video, photos, sounds and text at any given time. Who controls it? Who reads it? And does anyone believe it?
The power and control of traditional news sources was discussed by Harper in his article Journalism in the digital age where he notes that “many online publications depend on major brand names as the primary sources of information” (Harper 2003) inferring that while we may be able access news in more places than ever, it is likely that what we are reading online comes from the traditional media sources. This certainly rings true for me. I tend to read the smh online rather than blog posts and if news is ever reported by friend on facebook I will usually go to traditional news sites to validate it or seek further information.
Harper also outlined the power of editors in the news world who act as gatekeepers – determining which stories are newsworthy enough for publish, and therefore controlling the issues that are thought about and discussed by the general public. Prior to the internet there were not many alternative ways to find out about news stories not presented in the press and although online news is still dominated by traditional media there are alternatives. For example twitter allows people to follow multiple new sites, celebrities and friends from all over the world – a news item published in one country can circulate via social media and become public knowledge before publishing by traditional sources as was the case of the Occupy Wall Street protests (Gruen Planet: Episode 6 2011).
Then comes the issue of money. As much as free press is good for a Democracy it is also a business so who pays for online newspapers? Harlow advised that traditionally classified advertising paid for newspapers. Upon flicking through the October 28 edition of the Daily telegraph I found nothing more that 5 pages of classifieds - 3 of which were dedicated to jobs, cars, real estate and obituaries and the other 2 solely decided to "personals" (Classifieds 2011) . Classifieds in newspapers it seems are no longer popular, and with the benefits of online sites such as my career and eBay its not hard to see why, although there were also sections that mixed journalism with commercial products such as the card guide.
Harlow also stated that some online news sites are part of larger conglomerates that also own online classified sections with the online newspaper works as branding for their other products (Harlow 2011). This is certainly the case with the new site for The West Australian who belongs to a group of companies owned by 7 west media. 7 west media also own channel 7 and Yahoo 7 (The West Australian 2011)and their products, services and media entertainment area advertised heavily on the site. A look at three other news sites found:
Harlow also stated that some online news sites are part of larger conglomerates that also own online classified sections with the online newspaper works as branding for their other products (Harlow 2011). This is certainly the case with the new site for The West Australian who belongs to a group of companies owned by 7 west media. 7 west media also own channel 7 and Yahoo 7 (The West Australian 2011)and their products, services and media entertainment area advertised heavily on the site. A look at three other news sites found:
· Crikey.com uses a pay wall model to make money from their news content. While some stories are published on the site viewers need to subscribe to unlock access to even better ones (so they say) at a cost of $185 per year. Subscribers then get the extra privilege of providing content if they wish. (Subscriber Help 2011).
· Perth Indi Media wholly operates on citizen journalism but stories added to these site still go through a gatekeeper who monitors them against the sites criteria. This site runs off donations and covers local community issues (About Indymedia Australia 2011).
· Finally the Huffington Post website is owned by a big corporation AOL and gets its content from anywhere its free – liking to the blog sites of others and combining the days blogs into one new site. This site also involves readers by having them comment and rate stories. This site is huge and has multiple strands not just in news but also entertainment and sport etc. AOL sells adverting on the Huffington post site. (The Huffington Post 2011)
SO the main points to remember this week are that:
· Online news media raises challenges the profitability of news and new ways to raise revenue are being trialed
· Online news sites are often another branch traditional news media companies which are trusted by many users
· Online news sites can target niche markets and source news for free from citizen journalists and bloggers
· Online news allows Journalists to link their reports to other news reports and source documents
· Online news allows people to research news reports therefore ethical journalism is important
· Gatekeepers still exist in the online environment (see gatekeepers blog entry for further info) controlling and monitoring the stories and comments uploaded
About Indymedia Australia. 2011. http://www.indymedia.org.au/about (accessed 7/11/11).
Classifieds. 2011. The Daily Telegraph, 119 - 124 (accessed 7/11/11)
Gruen Planet: Episode 6. 2011. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/gruenplanet/pages/s3354190.htm (accessed 8/11/11).
Gruen Planet: Episode 6. 2011. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/gruenplanet/pages/s3354190.htm (accessed 8/11/11).
Harlow, M. 2011. Inform me! News Media. Week 8. http://dbs.ilectures.curtin.edu.au/lectopia/lectopia.lasso?-MaxRecords=50&-SkipRecords=0&-Op=bw&ut=2908&CallbackID=928d2167f0cc56656c84409b4f366e45&usr=15055147 (accessed 8/11/11).
Harper, C. 2003. Journalism in a Digital Age. Democracy and new media: 271-280. lms.curtin.edu.au/@@59FE5910C5E0F0C6A9542F9A2E4F0BF9/courses/1/312160-Vice-Chancello-935083018/db/_2975043_1/embedded/Christopher%20Harper.pdf (accessed 7/11/11).
The Huffington Post. 2011. http://advertising.aol.com/brands/huffington-post (accessed 8/11/11).
Subscriber Help. 2011. http://www.crikey.com.au/about/subscriber-help/#nuts1 (accessed 8/11/11).
The West Australian. 2011. http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/ (accessed 7/11/11).
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