From Broadsheet to Tabloid: Content changes in Swedish newspapers in the light of a shrunken size (original) (raw)
Related papers
2016
Although considerable efforts have studied online news, studies so far have not investigated how the actual news topics are affected by digitalization in general, if at all, or compared them to different media constructs. Instead, changes in content are assumed or illustrated anecdotally rather than systematically assessed. This empirical study, covering Swedish and UK news sites within tabloid, quality morning, and local/regional varieties between 2002 and 2012, shows that there is a tabloidization effect in general but that it is stronger in tabloids and in Sweden compared to the UK. Further, this tabloidization can be more precisely described as a shift from political to more lifestyle journalism, as it is in the areas where the prime growth and decline are found. In addition, the study reveals that it is the slower news that increases most suggesting that the immediate character of online news is mediated by production conditions
Newspapers: Adapting and Experimenting
Intellect eBooks, 2011
Print media markets in Europe are confronted with challenging changes that threaten to destabilize the relationship between newspapers, the advertisers and their publics. Those changes are occurring fast, thus granting the management of print media actors only a limited time to adopt new strategies to reach the vanishing public and to find innovative solutions to attract advertisers. The factors of change are related to societal developments, to shifts in audience and advertising preferences, but also to the appearance of new media competitors; these factors apply more specifically to the newspaper market where free sheets and online media are turning the traditional business model upside down. This may call for experiments, e.g. synergies with online media, mobile platforms and e-readers. It also poses new challenges to decision makersnot only at the national level, but also in the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)who are habitually more willing to regulate broadcasting than matters concerning the print media. Digital technology enables media firms to become part of the convergence process that transforms individual media companies into integrated media corporations that offer new possibilities, but also new threats for media content and distribution (Picard 2004). The adoption of technological innovation has implications not only on news gathering and news processing but also on media concentration and the development of political systems (Hallin and Mancini 2004). European newspaper publishers are struggling to find a new market position facing Google and other non-journalistic media appropriating their traditional income from classified ads, and readers preferring free media to print-based media on subscription. Newspapers do not only face the Internet as a technological challenge. More fundamentally, the very business model of subscription and single copy sale supplemented by classified advertising is in jeopardy. New payment models such as micro payments have failed so far, and cut backs in staff offers only temporarily provide relief from the major challenge: how to sell less of more (Anderson 2006) and still make enough money to offer high quality journalism. In this chapter we will discuss characteristics and current development trends in the print industry, identify strategic responses by the print media industry and spot patterns of print media policy in Europe. We illustrate these processes by taking a closer look to the print media in selected areas: Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway and Sweden), the German speaking countries (Germany, Switzerland and Austria) and the Benelux countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands). We also include information from eastern European print markets. Table 1: Number and Circulation of Paid for Daily Newspapers.
'Tabloidization' is a new, frequently used term equally employed by journalists, media critics and academics to characterize a recent, dubious trend in the mass media. This article sets out to define this diffuse, multidimensional concept and discusses its usefulness for communication research. It emerges that 'tabloidization' can only be analysed adequately with a long-term cross-national design that focuses on quality news media and employs a wide range of empirical measures. This approach is taken here by comparing the press of Britain, Germany and the US, whereas the focus remains on the first two countries. A three-step empirical analysisbased on a definition developed before -demonstrates that journalistic values, media cultures as well as economic and legal conditions are responsible for the degree of 'tabloidization' in a given country.
The study discusses the degree of hybridisation between advertising and journalism in newspapers and niche magazines in the northern part of Europe (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, Sweden, UK), paying particular attention to labelled and unlabelled advertorials. The term advertorial has been listed by EU as a misleading commercial practice. When labelled it can be considered an example of moderate hybridisation of advertising and journalism, when not labelled; an example of a strong or complete hybridisation. Cracks in the so-called normative pillars, supposed to safeguard journalistic autonomy and serve the interests of the public, have, due to commercialisation, over the past three decades, partly demolished the once fundamental wall between the editorial and advertising departments within a media organisation. Internet and technologies have triggered, accelerated and been a driving force in commercialisation and the information overload. As a result, journalism has been put in a very critical, vulnerable and squeezed position, paving the way for more hybrid journalism and thus a weakened democracy. Based on e-mail-based survey responses from 691 newspapers and niche magazines, I found that in 2006/2007 there was a profound acceptance for the use of labelled advertorials, and a less, but still considerable acceptance for unlabelled advertorials. 66,4 % of the publications accepted labelled advertorials and 9,6 % unlabelled advertorials. The legendary wall between the editorial and advertising department was collapsing, but had not fully collapsed. 14,8 % of the publications responded that there was no communication between the two departments. 57,2 % did not want to publish more editorial content because of advertising, and 34,6 % did not give a guarantee to publish no critical or negative editorial content in case of advertising. Hybrid journalism was becoming the norm and classical journalism marginalised. In terms of hybridisation, there were little differences between newspapers and magazines, but the differences between countries were quite strong. Hybridisation was the weakest in Sweden and Denmark with hybridisation index scores of 0,42 and 0,44, on a scale from 0 to 2, while Finland (0,61), Germany (0,61), UK (0,89), Russia (1,22), Estonia (1,40) and Lithuania (1,69) showed a stronger hybridisation of journalism and advertising.
The status of the daily newspaper
Poetics, 1992
The status of the daily newspaper What readership research tells us about the role of newspapers in the mass media system Lennart Weibull * During the latest decades the rapid demise of newspapers has often been predicted. In spite of everything, however, the print media have turned out to be very strong in some parts of the world, for example in the Scandinavian countries. Given this background the main aim of this article is to analyse the factors contributing to the strength of the Swedish newspapers among its readers. The basis for the results presented is the long term research programme Dagspresskollegiet, which by means of yearly national and regional surveys traces the long-term development of media use in Sweden. The general presentation of readership development shows that between 80 and 90 per cent of the Swedes are regular newspaper readers. The level has been the same since the 1960s. Further it is shown that the strength of the newspapers is that they are local in outlook, corresponding to individual as well as social needs of the audience which are not being fulfilled by other media. Finally, the form of the newspaper invites the double function of ritual reading, surveying matters of potential importance to the reader as the member of a local community, and specialized reading, corresponding to specific needs of the individual reader. In the wider media system the newspapers have kept an informative role, where radio and TV have stressed their entertainment character.
Transformation of Newspapers’ Thematic Structure in the 20th Century
Javnost - The Public, 2013
This article focuses on the thematic structure and contextualisation of the future in the main daily newspapers of the three neighbouring countries of Finland, Estonia and Russia throughout the 20th century. We mapped the content of 2079 Finnish, 2242 Estonian and 1723 Russian daily newspaper articles. The Finnish Helsingin Sanomat concentrated on the issue of "state and legislation"; the second most common topic in the Finnish sample was economics, at about 20 percent of the articles, with the exception of the 1910s and 1930s. In Estonia we did not fi nd any dominant topic during the 20th century; there were many diff erent topics related to the agenda. Politics and governance and related issues were particularly dominant during the periods of independence. Economy-related issues were more or less dominant during the period of Soviet occupation. The topics of economics and human relations and values were dominant in the Russian Pravda throughout the 20th century. The analysis reveals that Finnish media were more diverse than Estonian and Russian, which displayed a lack of diversity especially during the Communist period.
This longitudinal study compares the development and implementation of multimedia on Swedish broadsheet and tabloid online news sites between 2005 and 2010. It also seeks the reasons behind these developments by interviewing journalists working on the sites. The results show that the initial implementation of multimedia was slow but increased sharply in pace between 2007 and 2008. By 2010, on average, one in four news items had some element of multimedia attached to them. Furthermore, results show that it was the quality papers that were the quickest off the mark rather than tabloids. The antecedents for this advance seem to be a mix of technological capacities, professional norms and economic needs.
Print and Online Newspapers in Denmark
was a quite ordinary day. Among the news of the day only few appeared in all the major newspapers across Europe. The most widely reported story told that the film star Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected as Governor in California. The same day a minor, but unusual event was performed by a group of scholars who collected and archived a number of print newspapers and online news sites from 16 European countries. The aim of these coordinated efforts was to provide comparable sets of materials, which could form the basis for studying the relation between print-and online news media. To do so a codebook including a detailed list of definitions of thematic units were generated and a test case was performed in the preceding year. Afterwards the archived materials was described and analyzed quantitatively and finally the data were put back into the different social and cultural contexts from which they originated. The overall project and the findings are now published in Richard van der Wurff & Edmund Lauf (eds.) Print and Online Newspapers in Europe, 2005. In the following I will address some of the questions intrinsic to projects of this sort and try to put the project into perspective by discussing the Danish case.
Newspapers have been a primary medium for journalism since the eighteenth century. Since then, new creative tendencies and technologies have changed news production and its evolution. Radio and television, that once were called New Media, seemingly could have jeopardized the existence of the newspaper, however, history proved that instead of disappearing it had to reinvent itself and consequently bring new contents in order to adapt to new times. Even the fact that many newspapers around the world are going out of business, does not mean necessarily that newspapers will disappear, on the contrary, traditional media is slowly shifting its model because they no longer have the strength to concentrate information as before and consequently, new media is developing through other business logics. As mentioned, the arrival of free news on the Internet has played a part in falling revenues for print media. As newspapers and new communication technologies, are trying to still be profitable, major changes regarding content are going to take place in order to still compete in a rampant world of immediate information. From public affairs news to a more entertainment driven news, there must be a huge shift in the near future in terms on news production in pursuance of its own niche market. The aim of this essay is to bring up the idea of a two-way relationship between digital and print news in which both are trying to coexist. The first part approaches the way online news have gained territory in comparison with its counterpart the printed newspaper which is, presumably in crisis. The second part will address on how the content in newspapers has to be revised in order to adapt to new ways of news consumption. In the last part I will focus on how market plays an important role on news production and how media follows its rules in order to maintain audiences and still be profitable.