Journalism Major Project

Topic: Who will pay for Journalism?

I have almost 1000 words on how newspapers, radio stations and Internet sites can afford to publish and broadcast news content. From advertising to link baiting, the magazine-style feature articles outlines the traditional and evolving methods that support journalism. I have interviewed local reporter Alison Buckland who writes for a community newspaper on the Central Coast. I got some great quotes from her regarding online news, local advertising and content decreasing.

I also carried out a phone interview with Cec Bucello who is Editor of another non-for-profit newspaper and we discusses the readership and continual need for this kind of service and how funding can keep it alive. I am yet to receive any replies from radio and Internet journalists but will keep trying before the deadline next week.

Murdoch's War on the Internet

In an article by Michael Wolf in Vanity Fair (Nov 09) Murdoch's plan to charge for online news was questioned and somewhat laughed at. Wolf stated that "Almost all Internet professionals, on the other hand, think that charging for general-interest news online is fanciful". Emily Bell who runs the Guardian's web site called the idea, “Rubbish, bonkers, a crock , a form of madness.” Bell also said that the idea has been tried before, and failed. Newspapers such as The New York Times trialled a subscription charge for its columns but later declared itself free again.

I, personally, think its a brilliant idea, and one that if implemented with the initial arrival of online news, may have saved the newspaper industry from cut-backs and losses. Murdoch is an old-fashioned business man, who argues with his Google friends about why they don't read newspapers anymore. If he wants his papers to return to their prime, he needs to go to war with the Internet. The Internet is the leading threat to newspaper readership world wide.
Its free, its convenient, it isn't so wide you hit the person next to you as you turn the pages.
But it isn't traditional, and it is costing journalists and media proprietors dearly.

I personally feel that Murdoch should fight the Internet, whether or not he will lose.

Journalism & the Internet

I was chatting to a journalist I met during work experience today via email. It was at that point that I realised I'd been sitting at my computer for over two hours. Chatting, searching for assignment matterial, snooping at photos, reading status updates and so on. My journalist friend and I were talking about online news when it also dorned on me that within these couple of hours I had not once checked the news. However, this morning, over my weetbix, I had skimmed the headlines in the local newspaper and I will be expecting the Sydney Morning Herald on my doorstep tomorrow morning.

For a young, computer-savvy person who has never used the shut-down button on my pink laptop, I am pretty old-fashioned when it comes to my news. One of the reasons, I have realised, is because I want a career in the print journalism industry and I am subconsciosly supporting it thorugh my news habits.

I work at my local Woolworths store Saturday and Sunday mornings. It pleases me to see people buying the paper with their breakfast supplies. I have on occasion rewarded those who bought the spreadsheets with a now-forbidded plastic bag. But with Murdoch now profitting from online news, I better buy another three subscriptions and reward newspaper buyers with more than just a eco-unfriendly gift!!