In 1983, the internet was officially created, and the world would be forever changed. Over the course of many decades of work, the internet has shifted, changed, and reinvented what it means to be on the internet. However, at its very core, the internet is the meeting of people and the distribution of information amongst the masses, and that has never changed. Newspaper companies, who were initially very hesitant to change, eventually integrated and started putting this content in a digital format just before the turn of the century. What turned out to be a nice way of making extra revenue, has shifted to their last standing leg. Over the previous two decades, newspaper companies have fumbled their purpose in a digital society and have not only lost money and subscribers, but they have also lost their credibility. Its lack of foresight has left the world of journalism in a rather peculiar state, one that is ready to sway at any given moment. If this world is so swayed by safety, it must revolutionize their digital model. If they do not change, then the world of professional journalism will never, ever be the same again.
For some very brief context, journalist’s always told their stories and events through physical newspapers. The consumption of newspapers varied, as some occasional bought a copy to read up on an infantilizing headline, others bought copies frequently, in order to stay up on the events unfolding in the world, and the rest would pay for a Sunday edition of the paper, in order to stay up on only the most important events that happened throughout the previous week. For decades, this was the dominant model that companies used, as it not only was a great way to maintain engagement, but also a great way of keeping revenues and profits high. However, as previously touched upon, the internet put an abrupt stop to this booming business. It wasn’t until the 2010’s that the newspaper saw drastic decline, which can be attributed to a product of the internet, social media. Today, social media giants like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are the primary ways that millions reach their dose of news, as it is short and quick, which in turn has pretty much destroyed newspaper companies as direct traffic to websites has pretty much fallen off of a cliff. This eventual collision was bound to happen, as the two worlds are so alike, but, the handling of this collision, coupled with a lack of foresight and willingness to adapt, is the real reason that journalism is in their current predicament.
For starters, people do not read the same way on a digital screen, as they would on physical paper. This is due to how our brains interpret text in a digital format. Our brains tend to wander, due to the fact that many people’s relationship with screens is an entertainment for one or a distraction for another. Here are a few words, what do they mean to you? Television, laptop, phone, gaming console, etc. A majority probably just said something that wasn’t particularly academic or literary, which shows the problem with screen reading. It makes your brain want to do something else, as being forced to read on something that usually brings you entertainment, leaving one with a desire to wander. In addition to this, reading on a screen is also more work for the brain, as the bright, blue light that omits from screens takes a toll on the brain. Leading to fatigue and eventual wandering or doing something else. This is supported by the work of Pablo Delgado and Ladislao Salmerón, who said “In-print readers, but not on-screen readers, mind wandered less on the pressure than in the free time condition, indicating higher task adaptation in print. Accordingly, on-screen readers in the pressured condition comprehended less than the other three groups. Mind Wandering and text comprehension were similar under free reading time regardless of medium.” (Delgado and Salmeron, 1) The difference is there and social media is the perfect fix for it. Posts are short and to the point, which prevents screen fatigue from happening and keeps people engaged and swiping, as each post is a boost of dopamine engagement which is why people will procrastinate and stay swiping for well beyond their planned time. It's simple, why would one person, under their own power, spend an hour or two reading a few articles online, when they can read a few posts in a few minutes and have the same story, while spending a fraction of the time and energy. This, coupled with frequent use and “credible” news, has led to many turning on newspaper companies.
The ethical credibility of newspapers has always been in question, that much is not new, but the attack that the industry has undergone began back in 2016, with the election of President Donald Trump. Throughout his campaign for the presidency, he attacked the newspaper who he believed had done him wrong. Instead of dismissing the headlines, he fought back and really questioned their credibility, giving way to the trendy term “fake news”, the belief that a story is untrue and is published to slander the target. The term caught on quickly and has become a tool of readers to use when they see something false or, unjustly, to dismiss something that they do not agree with. This attack, whether just or unjust, has led to a general perception about newspaper companies being untrustworthy, due to them being a profit first kind of business. SInce there are profits first, their primary way of making money is through engaged readers, and to keep them engaged, some have sensationalized their papers in order to keep engagement high, which is where distrust and disinformation stems from in the eyes of the public. An example of this sensationalism can be seen in research from Susan Olzak and Elizabeth West. In their research about how race headlines impact engagement, they concluded that “Our results indicate that hostility and violence encouraged white immigrants to found ethnic newspapers, whereas racial attacks significantly deterred the founding of African-American newspapers. Existing immigrant newspapers thrived under attack, whereas African-American newspapers did not. Thus, the results suggest that the consequences of repressive attacks on ethnic and racial communities depend on the levels of collective violence in addition to the resources controlled by the victimized group.” (Olzak, West 1) The more that a minority group was attacked, the more that drew people to read that paper, whereas the more that group was attacked, the less likely they were to fight back or to have a paper to stand by them and tell their side of the story. Violence and sensationalism sell and maintain readers. Boring news loses readers, hence the often outlandish headlines. This distrust, coupled with more turning to and believing in the news that they see online, has led to a jumbled up mess of he said, she said kind of news world, where the real truth is so hard to find. This stems from untrust, but it also stems from them being out of use as well. Social media has indeed rendered the papers obsolete, but this turning away from newspapers is really due to one problem, which in the grand scheme of things is rather fixable, proper monetization.
It is free. It costs absolutely nothing to download an app and create an account for twitter. At the tips of one’s fingers, they have the world at their disposal and everything is seeable. For newspapers, not only is an account creation necessary, a form of payment is required in some cases to view the articles and stories, which has turned millions away and towards the freedom that social media presents, despite the lack of credibility, which will be discussed further along this paper. Back to payment, almost all digital newspapers operate in this pay to view model. Today, there are three models that these newspaper companies use: pay to view, pop-up ads, and hybrid of the two. Some companies elect to have free websites, where anyone can view any article, like NBCSports Boston. The catch, these websites are filled with ads all over the place, which makes navigating the website difficult as they are very tricky to close and if they can’t they slow down your computer and could actually add malware to your computer, which puts the user’s privacy at risk. For other companies, there is pay to view websites like the New York Times. This works and is smooth to operate in a digital format, as safety is usually ensured, but the idea of hiding news behind a paywall, isn’t smart, especially when there's other, free alternatives out there for people to find the information they are in search of. Before, people would follow the newspapers, but in today’s world, the companies are now chasing the people, and they are losing ground in this model. The rest, like the Lowell Sun, offer a hybrid model, where there are ads inherently in the website, but offer a subscription to remove the ads and access exclusive articles. A nice mix of both that caters for everyone, but still hides information behind a paywall and therein lies the problem with newspapers. Paywalls, whether in the form of subscription payments, or in the place of advertisements, don't work in this manner anymore. Things may look dim, as the industry continuously shrinks every year, however, there is hope, as the basis for success can be found in one of the models being used today. The savior of newspapers is the hybrid model, it just needs to be modernized.
The hybrid model, with its variation and many options, is the way forward for newspapers. The ability to allow readers to try the product for free, which gets them in the door and familiar with the product and the writers that work there. Pop-up ads monetize this aspect of the website. If readers find themselves really enjoying the content, then there is a payment option, which gives benefits and premium access to premium features, essentially having readers fund the content directly. According to research conducted in 2021, the idea of a premium paywall could actually play a part in retaining subscribers. “We find that a subscriber’s activation of digital access decreases the risk of her canceling her subscription by about 31% and increases her subscription revenue by 7%–12%. In other words, digital activation improves subscriber retention and the associated subscription revenue. This suggests a cross-channel spillover in which the online product (the paywalled website) increases customers’ valuation for the offline product (the printed newspaper)”. (Pattabhiramaiah, Overby, Xu, 1) The ability to showcase a quality, free product to people is the epitome of how to operate a business. However, being able to “tease” a better product for a small, monthly payment, that fixes the problems in the free format, creates a desire and an eventual decision to purchase the premium product. The free product creates desire for a premium product, especially if the product is used frequently and often. With that being said, this model is old, which is why a rebrand and modernization is needed.
Think, what is the biggest company in the world that offers a free product and a premium one, and generates billions of dollars in revenue every year. The answer is Youtube! Created in 2005, Youtube is a free to use website where anyone in the world can upload videos online for the whole world to see. In order to watch videos, viewers must sit through a 15 or 30 second advertisement, which can be skipped occasionally. For those who use it frequently, there is a subscription option that removes ads and provides higher video quality. Does this sound familiar? It's the same model newspaper companies use, just more modern and it should be the format that companies take and implement into their own websites. Verbatim, companies should copy and paste this monetization model into their websites. Rather than pop-up ads, use video ads that can be skipped, as they are more trustworthy in terms of being secure in regards to privacy. Not only does this mean articles are viewable to anyone who desires to read, it means that the quality work of the writers can be showcased to a wide audience. Furthermore, and to reinforce, this frequent use creates a desire to go above and purchase the premium subscription, which removes ads and gives more features to the user. Youtube’s hybrid model for monetization will be the saviour for digital newspapers, it's just a matter of a leap of faith from executives to make the change.
CONCLUSION AND SOURCES
In conclusion, newspapers are in deep trouble. They are losing money, losing credibility, and losing their grip in the news industry everyday. Things may be really bleak, but the light has not gone out for the newspaper companies just yet, as there is a glimmer of hope that could take them out of the darkness. That glimmer of hope takes the form of a proper monetization model that properly utilizes modern advertising methods. If newspapers can make the revolution and catch up to the modern world, they will survive this dark time and emerge as a new force in the world of news and media. If they are unable to make this change, then the newspaper as it is known in the world today, will fade into history as a relic of a previous era.
Works Cited
Delgado, Pablo, and Ladislao Salmerón. “The Inattentive On-Screen Reading: Reading Medium Affects Attention and Reading Comprehension under Time Pressure.” Learning and Instruction, vol. 71, Feb. 2021. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2020.101396.
Olzak, Susan, and Elizabeth West. “Ethnic Conflict and the Rise and Fall of Ethnic Newspapers.” American Sociological Review, vol. 56, no. 4, Aug. 1991, pp. 458–74. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.2096268&site=eds-live.
Pattabhiramaiah, Adithya, et al. “Spillovers from Online Engagement: How a Newspaper Subscriber’s Activation of Digital Paywall Access Affects Her Retention and Subscription Revenue.” Management Science, vol. 68, no. 5, May 2022, pp. 3528–48. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.4092.
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