This document discusses issues with online news and the future of journalism. It notes that newspapers historically aimed to produce readers rather than just report news. By the 1660s, news became manufactured from a single perspective. The document contrasts differentiation, which fosters democratic reasoning, with hyper-differentiation through personalization and filtering. It also discusses how people now curate their own selective news feeds and spend less time reading online than print news. This decreased exposure can lead to less political knowledge and increased polarization. The market is changing as audiences reject TV for internet, challenging traditional media. While journalists' jobs are changing, the future remains bright with more global access to stories.

1. What’s wrong with online news? The future of journalism Laura Prael (z3319901) Ziyuan Lin (z3382001)

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXRjmyJFzrU&feature=related

3. “Newspapers have always produced readers, not news, as their primary goal.”

4. Earliest newspaper was published in Britain in 1640. It aimed to contest authorities and challenge information dissemination. By 1660, the news was increasingly manufactured from a singular perspective.

5. Differentiation vs. Hyper-Differentiation Differentiation fosters democratic reasoning. In relation to newspaper content, democracy involves individuals being confronted to ideas and information that they otherwise may have avoided. Hyper-Differentiationis when we are self-restricted from democratic thought opportunities through personalising, automating, fragmenting, filtering, and restricting our content.

6. User journey

7. Ritual view: association, fellowship, sharing, and common faiths Transmission model: extension of messages

8. Selectivity We now curate our own news. And, it’s the news that we want.

9. Negative outcomes of selectivity Decreased news awareness Decreased political knowledge and participation Decreased diversity of opinion and higher political polarisation

10. Scanning We spend a quarter of the time reading an online news page than we do reading a newspaper print article.

11. Political polarisation Political talk that centres on reinforcement of shared viewpoint does little to encourage deliberation on multiple viewpoints.

12. Fox News attacks Obama YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouKJixL--ms

13. Market is changing Battle Traditional media vs. Online media

14. Audience are changing Audience are rejecting TV in favor of internet especially those who are less than 25 years old. The logic of the Internet, a medium allow audience choose to do what they like for itself, rather than needing to wait for a publication.

15. Example IPAD

16. Journalist’s jobs are changing They are facing lots of unexpected problems now

17. Future still bright? More access to more journalism worldwide Digital delivery offers more ways to reach people More voices are part of the news conversation Stories never end

18. Reference list Tewksbury and Althus, “Difference in knowledge acquisition among readers of the paper and online versions of national newspapers, “ Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 31, 2006. Prior, “News vs Entertainment: How increasing Media Choice Widens Gaps in Political Knowledge and Turnout,” American Journal of Political Science 49 (3), July 2005. Holmqvist et al, 2003, “Reading or scanning? A study of newspaper and net reading.” The mind’s eye: Cognitive and applied aspects of eye movement research. Mutz and Martin, “Facilitating communication across lines of political difference: the role of mass media,” The American Political Science Review 95 (1), March 2001. Kim, “Issue publics in the new information environment: Selectivity, domain specificity, and extremity,” Communication Research 36 (2), 2009. Glaser, M 2007, 10 Reasons There's a Bright Future for Journalism, Media Shift, retrieved on 6/10/2011, from: http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2007/06/10-reasons-theres-a-bright-future-for-journalism179.html Shirky, C 2009, Not an upgrade - an upheaval, Cato Unbound, retrieved on 07/10/2011, from: http://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/07/13/clay-shirky/not-an-upgrade-an-upheaval/

19. Thanks for listening

20. Questions 1. Does the hyper-differentiation of online news behaviour ‘dumb-down’ the masses and hamper democratic reasoning? 2. Since the rise of blogging and other online news sources, do we still need a group of trained, professionally skilled journalists? 3. Which statements do YOU agree with more? Traditional newspaper content is dry and stale. It needs to be more excitingand cover content that interests me. The quality of traditional newspaper content and reporting is dropping. There seems to be more celebrity gossip and less hard news.