About the Project
Over the next month The Pacific Lutheran University COMA 420 class will be in collaboration with COMA 323 in order to give our readers a look into the future of journalism.
It’s a rough time for journalists in the midst of a struggling economy coupled with the growth of the Internet. Many newspapers are either suffering financially or shutting down completely. Seattle’s second largest newspaper, the Post-Intelligencer, along with Denver’s Rocky Mountain News, already have moved entirely online, letting go several reporters.
This project will give the readers a glimpse into some of the most prominent issues in journalism today, and where the industry will be headed in the future.
What sources are you using?
By Ellen Kanuch and Amanda Clancy
A study from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press said that the public (ages 18 to 24) are getting most of their news from online sources. We took this information and polled the PLU community to find that our study aligned with theirs.
| What news sources do students use | Out of 230 | % |
| Internet | 203 | 88.2 |
| Television | 180 | 78.2 |
| Radio | 72 | 31.3 |
| Newspaper | 127 | 55.2 |
| PLU Media (KCNS, KCCR, The Mast, Web News Blog) | 54 | 23.4 |
| From other people | 105 | 45.6 |
News Consumption
By Ellen Kanuch and Amanda Clancy
Our study found most students are tuning in to the news multiple times a week as well as a large majority tuning in multiple times a day. From the table above, this data seems to imply that this trend in the younger population could be from the accessibility of online media.
| How often students tune in to news | Out of 230 | % |
| Multiple times a day | 49 | 21.3 |
| Once day | 42 | 18.2 |
| 4-5/wk | 29 | 12.6 |
| 2-3/wk | 54 | 23.4 |
| Once a week | 24 | 10.4 |
| Once every couple weeks | 13 | 5.6 |
| Once a month | 10 | 4.5 |
| Never | 8 | 3.6 |
How much are you willing pay?
By Ellen Kanuch and Amanda Clancy
Since many news outlets are struggling financially, particularly newspaper companies, some experts are predicting the only way news companies can continue to make profit is to adapt to the development and growth of the Internet and cable. We asked students how much they would be willing to pay for the news if their provider was no longer a free source.
| Money willing to pay for news | Out of 230 | % |
| None | 35 | 15.2 |
| Less than $5 | 39 | 17.5 |
| $5-$10 | 77 | 33.4 |
| $10-$15 | 26 | 11.3 |
| $15-$20 | 23 | 10.0 |
| $20-25 | 11 | 4.7 |
| $30-$50 | 5 | 2.1 |
| $50-$100 | 0 | 0 |
| $100+ | 1 | .43 |
What are students paying attention to?
By Ellen Kanuch and Amanda Clancy
Our study found that students pay more attention to news at the local level with less interest in international news. Weather, sports and entertainment seem to be in the highest priority for many.
We noticed that two trends appeared most frequently: students either search for only a few categories when they tune in to the news or pay attention to a variety of news topics.
| Student’s news interests | Out of 230 | % |
| Local: | 33.6 | |
| Weather | 173 | 75.2 |
| Crime | 97 | 42.1 |
| Education | 81 | 35.2 |
| Community | 113 | 49.1 |
| Environment | 92 | 40.0 |
| Politics/WA news | 127 | 55.2 |
| State: | 57.5 | |
| Local Government | 93 | 40.4 |
| Health | 113 | 49.1 |
| Sports | 144 | 62.6 |
| Religion | 50 | 21.7 |
| International: | 60.8 | |
| International Affairs | 135 | 58.6 |
| Business/Finance | 67 | 29.1 |
| Consumer | 69 | 30.0 |
| Science/Technology | 107 | 46.5 |
| Lifestyle: | 55.0 | |
| Entertainment | 143 | 62.1 |
| Culture/Arts | 96 | 41.7 |
| Celebrity | 72 | 31.3 |
| Travel | 107 | 46.5 |
Is News Believable?
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We recently polled many students about whether or not they trust news organizations in the United States; these are our results. We have broken up the results into yes, maybe and no answers. By Ellen Kanuch and Amanda Clancy |
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Yes-“Yes, there are professionals whose jobs depend on their credibility.” -Senior -“I believe that everything I get from the news is viable. I also believe that there are viable things that are not in the news.” -First-year -“Mostly, it is in everyone’s best interest in most cases to have news reported correctly.” -Senior -“Yes, since the news is made for the public, I believe that there is no wrong information.” -Sophomore -“Yes. If its not true, it ain’t news.” -First-year -“Yes. Because the myriad of different news sources give a full and complete idea of all sides.” -Junior -“Yes. Because there is no incentive for journalists to lie routinely.” -Senior -“I would think so. I make sure to watch or read a variety of media outlets.” -Junior -“Yes, I trust the news and take everything they put out there as the truth.” -Junior -“Believable, yes. Accessible? No.” -Junior Maybe-“Well, it’s very conglomerated and biased but there is truth to everything I guess.” -Junior -“Usually, but sometimes I wonder how they’ve edited interviews & what not to fit their goals or desires.” -Junior -“It’s believable insofar as it is based on ‘facts.’ Other than that, it appears to be extremely misleading emotionally and possibly politically depending on the network.” -Senior -“To a certain extent. News groups cater to certain demographics and present stories based on their target audience.” -Junior -“Sometimes, but other times it’s incredibly sensationalist, which may offer the importance that the news source assigns to any one story.” -Senior -“For the most part. I usually turn it off if it becomes too much about celebrities or insignificant things.” -Junior -“Yes and no. There seems to be a slant in most cases. People only want to hear opinions that follow their same thought.” – ? -“Depends on what channel, and in which country you watch them. My experience is that European news are more informative than American. American news channels can be very selective in what news they show/tell people about.” -Junior -“It seems so over dramatic.” –First-year -“It depends, but usually the media is either bias or sometimes the government regulates some of the information given to the public.” –Junior No-“Sometimes, I feel like they let us hear what we want to.” -Senior - “No, because they sell depression.” -Junior -“No, too much bias.” -Junior - “No because they do not always give both sides to the story.” -First-year - “When it comes from certain news stations, blogs and through people, I understand that they are biased news stories.” -Senior - “Some of the time, but I think that the majority of the time the whole truth is not revealed.” –Graduate student -“No, you need to look at different outlets to get the big picture.” -Senior -“Not always. People are getting paid to write what others want to hear.” -Sophomore -“I don’t believe that all the news is believable. I think the news is at times based on observations and non-empirical statistics.” -Sophomore -“I don’t usually believe what I hear or read because most media sources, in my opinion, fail to give the entire story or they spin it to fit an agenda. I usually use many sources to understand the entire story and get most of the facts.” -Senior |
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Economy
Changing of the guard? Old guard becomes new guard with launch of non-profit website
Carrie Draeger
As newspapers begin to tank, former journalists for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer have started seattlepostglobe.com to continue building and evolving the profession.
The website, a partnership with Seattle Weekly and KTCS-TV, is run by former P-I city hall reporter Kery Murakami.
The big change for the former staffers is that the website is running as a non-profit organization.
“This effort stemmed from my belief that the community should have a say in something as important to our civic life as losing journalists trying to bring you information,” Murakami said on the website’s blog in the second week.
So far, contributors have included popular former P-I columnists Art Thiel and Laura T. Coffey, Mariners beat reporter John Hickey, award winning cartoonist Milt Priggee and photographer Mike Kane.
As of now, none of them are getting paid.
The group started out with $3,000, with another $3,000 pledged soon after. While the Globe has an advertising partnership with the Seattle Weekly, Murakami expects most of the financial backing to come from reader donations.
“We’re volunteering because we believe in this, but realistically we can’t do this for long without your help,” Murakami said in his blog.
The site hopes that readers will donate at least $10 per month in order to keep trucking on.
For more information, please visit the Globe’s website at seattlepostglobe.com.
Technology
Are blogs the free press of the future?
Hillary Fazzari
Blogs offer a variety of information at the touch of a button. They enable virtually anyone to publish virtually anything at anytime, but are they really the free press of the future.
Klinkenborg, writer for the New York Times, claims that blogs are the “New Free Press.” In her article (linked below) she said that blogs can be a good way to gain and share information, though she admitted that blogs are not necessarily a credible.
Klinkenborg’s article can be reached by visiting: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/18/opinion/18tue4.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=future%20of%20journalism&st=cse.
Trailblazers of the Industry
Current trailblazer:
Skagit Publishing, Mount Vernon, Wash.
Collin Guildner
- Skagit Publishing, Mount Vernon, Wash. Photo courtesy of SkagitPublishing.com
Skagit Publishing builds up as others tear down
In a time when struggling news organizations are more common than the spring tulips in Skagit Valley, newspapers are looking for ways to improve newsrooms and production.
Skagit Publishing in Mount Vernon, Wash. has created a picture perfect model to keeping a small town newspaper thriving in a difficult time.
Publisher Stedam Wood recently opened a brand new building on Anderson Road in Mount Vernon. With the buildings came a new attitude and model for the small-town publisher.
“There are not as many people chasing news in a small town like this,” Wood said. “We are in a more unique situation.”
Skagit County contains many small town communities and Skagit Publishing prints many of the newspapers in the area. In addition to the Skagit Valley Herald, which has their news room in the new building, Skagit Publishing also prints the Anacortes American, the Argus out of Burlington, and the Courier-Times. Currently, Skagit Publishing is working on a contract to print the Bellingham Herald, said Wood.
Bringing together reporters has allowed the newspaper ability to save money on printing and circulation. Skagit Publishing is a growing news source, which has become few and far between during the recent economic struggle.
“We did not want to do it until we felt we could do it,” Wood said about the new building. “But we think it is working out well.”
Small-town blogging not hurting newspapers
Small towns should be looking to the Skagit Valley area for a good model of how to run a newspaper.
GoSkagit.com has become the main online news source in Skagit County. The website combines all the news gathered by sources of Skagit Publishing and provides a common source to readers. Collaboration of online content is something that Wood says was an important aspect of the new project.
Wood says that the small town newspaper is less susceptible to the drowning of newspapers that the internet has caused to larger papers. This is a good thing for Skagit Publishing, which only receives seven percent of its ad revenue from online advertising.
Wood discourages the move to full online news sourcing, like what happened at the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
“In a small town, there will always be a demand for a more reliable and trustworthy news source,” said Wood.
Online blogging allows the public to post anonymously without risk.
“The internet allows people to not really own up to what they are doing,” said Skagit Valley Herald city editor Dick Cleaver. “When you have to put your name underneath your work it makes you think.”
GoSkagit.com is the secondary news source for Skagit Valley residents. Wood said that he feels that there will remain a demand for the hard copy newspapers for years to come.
Current Trailblazer:
FLYP magazine
FLYP magazine bridges gap between print and online media
Matt Click
As print journalism struggles to survive and newspapers nationwide disappear, online publication FLYP is attempting to combine the visceral experience of reading a magazine with the ease and interactivity of an online news source. Instead of using the Internet as a supplement to a physical publication, FLYP is a full-on innovation. It went online with its first issue May 1, 2008.
“FLYP uses an innovative palette of online tools and Web 2.0 user functionality to provide an engaging and enriching multimedia experience,” the publication’s mission statement reads. “We approach the Internet as a new medium—not just a new distribution channel—and we strive for a form of journalism that fulfills its possibilities on topics that range from politics and science to art and music.”
FLYP’s issues, which are produced biweekly, focus on a number of topics, from entertainment, to the war in Iraq, to the environment, to President Barack Obama’s first 100 days in office. The content is not unlike what TIME produces every week, with a central topic ringed by smaller news features. Though someone reading an issue of FLYP is afforded the sensation of “flipping” through a magazine via its sophisticated Flash interface, the publication utilizes unique features such as embedded photo galleries, video footage and audio clips to present a true media package.
“Combining high-quality text, video, animation and design, FLYP goes against the here-today-gone-tomorrow tendency of journalism on the Internet,” the mission statement reads. “Our biweekly issues are meant to be experienced, and not just read. Merging the best characteristics of print journalism with appealing interactivity, FLYP tries to offer up a dynamic magazine.”
FLYP is headed by an editorial staff, a team of reporters, web designers and a handful of interns. It is offered ad-free and without subscription fees every other week. In addition to its regular volumes, FLYP also sports a constantly updated blog and podcasts, as well as user forums.
“FLYP is about what moves America and Americans, covering everything from politics to lifestyles; social issues to cultural developments; war to peace; music to movies,” reads the publication’s synopsis. “Our goal is to connect the dots in ways that both inform and entertain.”
What They’re Saying
The voices weighing in on where journalism is or might be headed are building. Several blogs have taken up the subject now. From those with ties to local happenings, such as the Metzger Blog that discusses the demise of the Rocky Mountain News, youtube discussions about the challenges with converging mediums, to more general discussions such as those taking place at Twitter Journalism, Facebook Journalism or the Future of Sports Journalism, we invite you to expand even upon what you will be seeing here in the coming weeks on where journalism is headed.
Non-profs the wave of the journalistic future?
Peter Young
Photo courtest of seattlepi.com
Today it seems as though media moguls are finding themselves between a rock and a hard place.
Readership is down for most print publications across the country and the trend shows no signs of slowing. Fortunately not all journalists are throwing in the towel just yet. Finding themselves laid off in an increasingly difficult job market, many are turning to non-profits as a way of continuing to tell the stories of today.
One of the front-runners in this area is the newly launched Seattle PostGlobe, which is staffed primarily by former writers of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, but in a market as bleak as today’s, how do these publications stay afloat? How are they reaching their audiences and are we likely to see similar publications in the future? In the coming weeks I hope to answer these questions and more as I investigate this up and coming style of news reporting.
