I have experience with graphics and movie editing programs, but that is as much work on the computer I have ever done. this is my first time blogging.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Writer Bio
My name is Emilie Parnin. I am a junior advertising major, and apparel and textiles minor. I am from Winston-Saem, NC .
Writer Bio: Jimmy Hunt
My name is Jimmy Hunt and I’m a senior IDS major w/ a business concentration. I’m from Raleigh and have been in Boone for 5 years. I’d put myself on the lower end of educated in terms of internet savvy; however, this class has been great. I began my own entertainment and production company, Yellow Dog Entertainment, LLC about a year ago and media such as blogs, forums, myspace, twitter, etc are all very relevant types of promotional outlets. I think the aspect I’ve gotten out of the class the most is the accessibility to knowledge and awareness available because of the internet.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Context of our blog
Here at Gigapopstars, we wanted to focus on how the internet has affected news media as a whole, so we attempted to try to explain it all. While not explicitly following the instructions, we feel our blog sufficiently ties together how the Internet has truly changed our lives.
Enjoy!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Loss of jobs due to the internet
Across the field of media and especially the newspaper industry, jobs are being lost; plain and simple. This phenomenon is not just local however, it’s across the globe. From Seattle’s historically well known paper, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer cutting 165 jobs down to 20 to a 40% slice in employment at the Western Mail and Echo group in the United Kingdom, times are a changing and the way we get our news is as well.
“You read about the great names — the Baltimore Sun, the Boston Globe, the San Jose Mercury News — as if reading the obituary page. Rich cities like San Francisco can no longer support a profitable daily paper” ( Timothy Egan, The New York Times).
Sales of newspapers have dropped more than 10% this past year, forcing the restructure of the papers themselves and leading to job losses. In addition the price of computers and its software have dropped, at the same time as in increase in internet accessibility. Though print news has been the backbone of mass media their numbers are fading, and fast. So, who exactly has been affected?
- The Rocky Mountain News stopped press in Februrary , 2009, forcing 230 employees out of jobs. The RMN’s lost 16 million in 2008 alone. It had been in existence for over 140 years.
- The Seattle Post-Intelligencer cut their employment numbers from 165 to 20.
- Journal Constitution in Atlanta, GA cut by nearly 30% in August, 2008
- News and Records in Greensboro, NC cut 25 jobs in April, 2009
- Garnett Co. Inc, cut 1,000 jobs over 80 newspapers with 600 direct layoffs in 2008
This list could go on forever.
Who or what is to blame? Many critics say that our struggling economy is the main factor.
“The Web is the future. And yet, because online advertising accounts for only about 10 percent of total ad revenue, newspapers are hemorrhaging money “(Timothy Egan, The New York Times).
Though the economic situation has put a stranglehold on advertising funds and other areas of newspaper revenue, I do not see this as the main contributor. The fact is our society cares about speed and convenience. Whether that is morally right or wrong, it’s merely a fact.
“I don’t know anyone my age who has time in the morning to read a newspaper,” said Chris Olivier, 37, a retail manager who said he gets his daily news from dozens of Web sites and a few niche publications circulating in specific Denver neighborhoods. “It’s sad to see such a huge part of our state’s history lost, but the market is moving, and newspapers haven’t moved with it. They don’t get the Web.”
What are the dangers of such as change? Other members of my group have touched on it brilliantly; our “news” is not news anymore. Furthermore, a loyal reader of the deceased Rocky Mountain Times in Denver, Colarado says,
“I’m afraid of the echo chambers that are emerging because more people are choosing to get their news only from sources that reinforce what they want to believe,”.
“They want headlines only and graphs that summarize everything without going into a lot of analysis. And they feel entitled to even the most complex and sophisticated news coverage for free.”
At this point we know the problem. Hopefully we understand the butterfly-caterpillar evolution of social media which we are currently experiencing. Now what? What are our options, and are there any solutions? One writer from the New York Times suggests we could move toward the National Public Radio Model. Newspapers could be bought by socially responsible non-profits and operate them as a trust. The second option is to fold up shop and accept the situation. Our culture will inevitably choose what they want to read.
Personally, I love the newspaper but also enjoy the convenience of the internet. Only time will tell if the newspaper will make a rise from the ashes, or simply fade further away.
“You read about the great names — the Baltimore Sun, the Boston Globe, the San Jose Mercury News — as if reading the obituary page. Rich cities like San Francisco can no longer support a profitable daily paper” ( Timothy Egan, The New York Times).
Sales of newspapers have dropped more than 10% this past year, forcing the restructure of the papers themselves and leading to job losses. In addition the price of computers and its software have dropped, at the same time as in increase in internet accessibility. Though print news has been the backbone of mass media their numbers are fading, and fast. So, who exactly has been affected?
- The Rocky Mountain News stopped press in Februrary , 2009, forcing 230 employees out of jobs. The RMN’s lost 16 million in 2008 alone. It had been in existence for over 140 years.
- The Seattle Post-Intelligencer cut their employment numbers from 165 to 20.
- Journal Constitution in Atlanta, GA cut by nearly 30% in August, 2008
- News and Records in Greensboro, NC cut 25 jobs in April, 2009
- Garnett Co. Inc, cut 1,000 jobs over 80 newspapers with 600 direct layoffs in 2008
This list could go on forever.
Who or what is to blame? Many critics say that our struggling economy is the main factor.
“The Web is the future. And yet, because online advertising accounts for only about 10 percent of total ad revenue, newspapers are hemorrhaging money “(Timothy Egan, The New York Times).
Though the economic situation has put a stranglehold on advertising funds and other areas of newspaper revenue, I do not see this as the main contributor. The fact is our society cares about speed and convenience. Whether that is morally right or wrong, it’s merely a fact.
“I don’t know anyone my age who has time in the morning to read a newspaper,” said Chris Olivier, 37, a retail manager who said he gets his daily news from dozens of Web sites and a few niche publications circulating in specific Denver neighborhoods. “It’s sad to see such a huge part of our state’s history lost, but the market is moving, and newspapers haven’t moved with it. They don’t get the Web.”
What are the dangers of such as change? Other members of my group have touched on it brilliantly; our “news” is not news anymore. Furthermore, a loyal reader of the deceased Rocky Mountain Times in Denver, Colarado says,
“I’m afraid of the echo chambers that are emerging because more people are choosing to get their news only from sources that reinforce what they want to believe,”.
“They want headlines only and graphs that summarize everything without going into a lot of analysis. And they feel entitled to even the most complex and sophisticated news coverage for free.”
At this point we know the problem. Hopefully we understand the butterfly-caterpillar evolution of social media which we are currently experiencing. Now what? What are our options, and are there any solutions? One writer from the New York Times suggests we could move toward the National Public Radio Model. Newspapers could be bought by socially responsible non-profits and operate them as a trust. The second option is to fold up shop and accept the situation. Our culture will inevitably choose what they want to read.
Personally, I love the newspaper but also enjoy the convenience of the internet. Only time will tell if the newspaper will make a rise from the ashes, or simply fade further away.
Monday, April 20, 2009
National Public Newspaper
With major newspapers like the Rocky Mountain News closing its doors and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer moving online, it’s hard to deny that the Newspaper industry has hit a tipping point (some might call it a state of panic) in which the paper itself (the tangible, made from trees daily newspaper) is no longer a profitable venture. Without a doubt, a primary cause of this is the Internet. With the proliferation of blogs, newspapers moving online, and Craigslist, the Internet has stolen readers and advertising revenues right out of the hands of the printed dailies. But will we really have a future without newspapers, as one source suggests?
Newspaper readership has seen a steady gradual decline over the last ten years, but the number of people who still read papers is significant enough to suggest that there is still demand for papers. The problem, then, is not simply a matter of demand, its a matter of profitability. Craigslist has practically severed the classifieds market, causing millions in revenue loss each year to newspapers across the country. Advertisers too, have moved away from costly print ads to cheaper online advertising. The result of these forces has been a serious slimming of newspaper profit margins.
So is the solution just to give up on papers? Should we and will we soon get our news online? I certainly would miss the crossword puzzles more than anything, but there is also something about reading through a newspaper that is lost when news goes online. Online, certain stories get pushed to the front of the line at the expense of others. I read the New York Times Online almost daily, but every time I pick up the physical paper I find stories that I would never come across on the internet. Online newspapers are limited in their formats.
I assert that the physical paper will not go away. But with out a doubt, the model has to change. There are a number of ways this could occur. One solution is model similar to the ones used by National Public Radio or American Public Media, both not for profit organizations which receive their funding through a combination of government grants, listener donations and corporate underwrites. With NPR, member stations play programming locally. Unknown to many is that the creation of public media organizations like NPR came into being after congress passed The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The result of the public media is not only a publically supported media that is free of advertising, but a dramatic increase in quality of content.
My suggestion is that congress could pass a similar act to create a corporation that helps fund publically supported newspapers. The model would function very similar to public radio. Larger organizations (equivalent to NPR) would create a large body of syndicated content.
Local "stations" (in this case newspapers), would then select from the syndicated content and add in locally relevant stories. Funding would come from a combination of donations, subscriptions, corporate donations and government funding. Like public radio, the newspapers would raise the bar on content, since they would no longer be subject to the confines of "media market," the competitive element of journalism that keeps certain stories (Obama's Dog) on the front page, while more pertinent, but less marketable stories slip to the fringes.
Of course, this would require some serious infrastructure, but with newspapers failing left and right, it's high time to buy up newsrooms and printers while they are cheap.
Bibliography
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (2009). Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Retrieved 4 20, 2009, from About Public Broadcasting: http://www.cpb.org/aboutpb/
Lieberman, D. (2009, 03 19). Newspaper closings raise fears about industry. USA Today .
Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism. (2008). State of The Media. Retrieved 2009, from Daily Newspaper Readership by Age Group: http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2009/chartland.php?id=981&ct=line&dir=&sort=&c1=1&c2=1&c3=1&c4=1&c5=1&c6=1&c7=0&c8=0&c9=0&c10=0&d3=0&dd3=1
Newspaper readership has seen a steady gradual decline over the last ten years, but the number of people who still read papers is significant enough to suggest that there is still demand for papers. The problem, then, is not simply a matter of demand, its a matter of profitability. Craigslist has practically severed the classifieds market, causing millions in revenue loss each year to newspapers across the country. Advertisers too, have moved away from costly print ads to cheaper online advertising. The result of these forces has been a serious slimming of newspaper profit margins.
So is the solution just to give up on papers? Should we and will we soon get our news online? I certainly would miss the crossword puzzles more than anything, but there is also something about reading through a newspaper that is lost when news goes online. Online, certain stories get pushed to the front of the line at the expense of others. I read the New York Times Online almost daily, but every time I pick up the physical paper I find stories that I would never come across on the internet. Online newspapers are limited in their formats.
I assert that the physical paper will not go away. But with out a doubt, the model has to change. There are a number of ways this could occur. One solution is model similar to the ones used by National Public Radio or American Public Media, both not for profit organizations which receive their funding through a combination of government grants, listener donations and corporate underwrites. With NPR, member stations play programming locally. Unknown to many is that the creation of public media organizations like NPR came into being after congress passed The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The result of the public media is not only a publically supported media that is free of advertising, but a dramatic increase in quality of content.
My suggestion is that congress could pass a similar act to create a corporation that helps fund publically supported newspapers. The model would function very similar to public radio. Larger organizations (equivalent to NPR) would create a large body of syndicated content.
Local "stations" (in this case newspapers), would then select from the syndicated content and add in locally relevant stories. Funding would come from a combination of donations, subscriptions, corporate donations and government funding. Like public radio, the newspapers would raise the bar on content, since they would no longer be subject to the confines of "media market," the competitive element of journalism that keeps certain stories (Obama's Dog) on the front page, while more pertinent, but less marketable stories slip to the fringes.
Of course, this would require some serious infrastructure, but with newspapers failing left and right, it's high time to buy up newsrooms and printers while they are cheap.
Bibliography
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (2009). Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Retrieved 4 20, 2009, from About Public Broadcasting: http://www.cpb.org/aboutpb/
Lieberman, D. (2009, 03 19). Newspaper closings raise fears about industry. USA Today .
Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism. (2008). State of The Media. Retrieved 2009, from Daily Newspaper Readership by Age Group: http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2009/chartland.php?id=981&ct=line&dir=&sort=&c1=1&c2=1&c3=1&c4=1&c5=1&c6=1&c7=0&c8=0&c9=0&c10=0&d3=0&dd3=1
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