The Revenue Picture For American Journalism

Laura Finley states in her article “The Decline of Newspapers Is Bad for the US” that there has been quite a decline in newspapers in recent years. The cause of this decline is none other than our beloved internet. The biggest decline in newspapers was between October 2008 and March 2009. In this time period average newspaper sales decreased by 7.1 percent compared to the year prior. (14-15) Advertising revenues declined by an outstanding 30 percent in the first quarter of 2009! (15-16)

Have you picked up a newspaper or magazine in the last few weeks? Then you have been enjoying one of the first amendment rights. Journalism in the United States has changed over time. These changes have affected society.

Since the United States of America were first established, the news media has had a large and important role in influencing the people. Even during the American Revolution, the press helped to shape the public opinion in favor of the patriotic agenda through newspapers and pamphlets. In the Early Republic, Broadsides became popular with the people and, in the Jacksonian Era, a more voters inclusive press, the “penny press”, and the Associated Press, using a new technology known as the telegraph, rose in popularity. But, more events along the way saw to the growth of the news media as we know it today.

Most news media products are available free of charge (such as through TV news and websites) or very inexpensively (such as through newspapers). How do the media make money, and what are they really selling? How does this affect the way news is framed?( p. 318,321).

Above all, a journalist’s job is to seek the truth, and report it to the public. Occasionally a journalist will act deceptively in pursuit of that truth, causing for some of the most famous cases of undercover journalism—see Nellie Bly and PrimeTime Live—as well as the most infamous—James O’Keefe (Marx). When discussing undercover journalism, we must pose the question: can undercover journalism also be ethical journalism? And, regardless of the previous answer, is it ever justified? I will address both of these questions through the analysis of Shane Bauer’s 2016 Mother Jones’ piece on private prisons.

In the first article called “Nonprofit news: The future of American Journalism?” is written by Michael McGrath, a Journalist and the author of 15 articles, who is also an editor of The Kilkenny Journal, the problem of the future of journalism has been discussed.

The age of newspapers has passed. Laura Finley’s “The Decline of Newspapers Is Bad for the US” asserts that without newspapers citizens are “deprived of information essential to understanding their world”. Newspapers are the source at which the world communicates and when they come to a cease, the information also ceases.

Media Industries are significant within the life of modern society, providing the primary sources of information and entertainment. Media industries maintain the role of gatekeepers of news and information, as self-proclaimed guardians of freedom of speech and as self-appointed watchdogs on government and business attracting ever increasing attention from a sceptical public and policy-makers. Self – regulation has been the main structure and determinant within the Australian media industry, however, technological advances are now forcing new developments and fundamental changes upon the media as new approaches from policy-makers are focusing on improved structures that best serve the public interest within the modern world.

American journalism started as a modest business until it was employed as a political instrument in the effort for independence from Great Britain. After the Bill of Rights protected the freedom of the press, the power of the media was recognized, and it expanded swiftly after the American Revolution. During the nineteenth century, the penny press played a big part in the media with cheap and mass-produced newspapers which increased the growth of the press rapidly. Large newspapers turned into lucrative stations where sectionalism, verity, muckraking, news and promotion were prevalent. With the introduction of the radio and television, most of the American Media became owned by big establishments and amalgamations. Although the United States

In 1760, The Boston News-Letter was the first newspaper to be continuously published in the United States. A 250-year legacy of printed news could not have lasted if it newspapers didn't not have it uses. Aside from the entertainment value, newspapers exist for the main purpose of bringing news of international, national, and local news to the doorsteps of the people. Without such frequent and stable form of communication, it would be difficult for any nation to call itself a free democracy. Today however, it cannot be expected that newsprint will last forever. Statistical data firmly suggests newspapers around the world are falling both in number and circulation. The past several years have been difficult for newspapers as other news

The success of journalism lies in its ability to grasp and hold the attention of its readers, and multimodal articles excel at getting and retaining their readers’ interest. Multimodal articles, text articles heavily incorporating various modes of communication such as pictures, videos, and soundbites, have gained popularity in recent years. They enhance the reading experience for a variety of topics, especially when explaining crime stories. These technology-infused articles use different forms of media to clarify the information presented and evoke an emotional response from the reader. Multimodal articles enrich the reader’s experience by making the characters and event more emotionally engaging and the crime more tangible. Traditional articles lack the visual and audio media that bring the reader closer to the event, making the story seem distant, difficult to envision, and the characters less relatable.

The belief that journalism is in decline has triggered major alarms, because society needs an informational environment that is easily available to all citizens such as newspapers. There is a large body of journalist that suggests that if television has taken over from the press as our main source of news this may limit our capacity to learn about public affairs; newspapers are believed to be far more effective than television at conveying detailed information necessary to understand complex and detailed issues. There is also widespread concern that if journalism fails as a profession it will not be able to reach large sections of the community, particularly younger or less educated readers. This may reinforce a growing gap among citizens between the information that they receive.

According to Wikipedia, “journalism is gathering, processing, and dissemination of news, and information related to news, to an audience. The word applies to the method of inquiring for news, the literary style which is used to disseminate it, and the activity (professional or not) of journalism.” In our daily life, journalism plays a very important role in spreading the news or information about any kind of topic. When journalists, reporters or writers, etc. write about an issue on newspaper or talk about it on television, they can greatly affect the audiences’ way of thinking about that issue. Some people will say that journalism affects the whole human society. As for politics, many people has been questioning if journalism has political impact or not? The answer is yes, journalism does have significant political impact. The first reason is because journalism is a communicating channel between the government and citizens. Another reason is journalism, by publishing political-related issue daily, slowly creates a political point of view in people’s mind and provide the audiences with the political information they have to know. In some countries, journalism is even used as a tool by the government to manipulate the citizens.

Journalism is the type of writing that investigates and includes lots of research of good and bad stories and some events. Journalists tend to write news stories that people should know about and haven’t already heard. Journalism comes in different categories; some are reporters, writers, editors, and photographers. People who tend to like journalism are those who love language and enjoy writing and reading, are called journalist; they work as reporters at newspapers, magazines, websites, TV stations, and radio stations. Good journalists love to read and want to find out what is going on around them and the world. They write short and long stories as they must write true stories. Journalists write stories that are from real people and they make the stories real too. People are not interested in reading newspapers now as much as they used to long time ago. These days’ people carry news on their iPods, cell phones, laptops, and more. They can even watch them on TV. A long time ago people knew the news through newspapers or the rich would have a radio which was the only way to know what is going in the world, but now news is everywhere.

2.1 Print Journalism continues to be a trusted source of news and information in Australia. However digital content has caused a decline in print. According to EMMA (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) “Digital readership is up from 9.5 million to 10.7 million however Print readership is down from 13.2 million to 12.7 million.