Who Will Pay For Journalism?

One of the biggest questions that plagues journalism today is who will pay for journalism as the landscape of the media industry changes. Traditionally, particularly in the case of newspapers, advertising paid for journalism. However with the proliferation of technology, advertising is moving to an online forum and this leaves journalism in a difficult position. Many feel that because of this shift that we will see the end of newspapers, and the public will seek its news primarily from the internet, television and radio. But how will this impact of the quality of the journalism produced? Much of the investigative journalism in Australia is done by newspapers initially, and is further covered by other media outlets. In particular radio relies heavily on newspapers for the source of topical discussions. Will an online form be able to provide all this and keep up with the growing demands the audience has from the media? An article in The Australian newspaper called ‘The Winter of Journalism’s Content’ makes a case for many of these arguments and suggests that there are so much news available online because of newspapers and that without them, it would also make it more difficult for online news websites to survive. “We are living in an interregnum between the age of print and the age of the net. The content-rich newspaper websites in Australia and overseas are living off the assets of newspapers and their present advertising. Many non-newspaper sites, in turn, depend on them. If newspapers decline, the tap will be turned off and the apparent abundance of news will dry up.” (McKnight & O’Donnell, 2008) This articule also argues that advertising will also suffer if newspapers no longer exist. This is because the readers pay attention to the advertisements along with the stories within the context of a newspaper. However the stories are generally individually picked out online, rather than taking in the whole paper meaning that the advertisements are ignored. I have to admit reading ‘The Winter of Journalism’s Content’ story online (the irony!) the advertisements are down the column of the page, however I do ignore them, and don’t pay any attention to what they are about.

This also raises the question if it is not advertisers paying for journalism, then who will? This ulimately leads to an obvious answer, that the consumers should pay. While consumers are already paying for their news in some regards, it continues to be heavily subsidised by advertising, so would consumers pay more for their news, and if so how much are their willing to pay? I think that consumers are willing to pay for their news, however I think it will require ajustment as so much of our news is avaliable for free. I also think that although it could be tempting and may seem economically feastiable for newspapers to become more entertainment based, but I think people turn to newspapers because they want ‘real’ and quality news, and that if this dimishes they may also lose readers.


The Australian- ‘The Winter of Journalism’s Content’
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24283745-7582,00.html