Innovation and Pitfalls: Considering the News Landscape

Introduction

This activity is going to rely upon your reading of the four articles and the module notes. Taken collectively, they work together to reveal a portrait of news media, innovation, and news media’s relationship with society. You are also going to be asked to use the key concepts we covered. This activity aligns with Module Outcomes 1 and 2.

One of our articles from Columbia Journalism Review details the myriad struggles of traditional newspapers attempting to capitalize on and deliver news online, while another shows how one newspaper The Washington Post, has found success through digital innovation and a fresh mindset. Another article looks specifically at where fifteen of the top media companies are expending resources in order to innovate in the digital realm, while a fourth article deals with a topic that seems to be very significant right now: fake news, which is prevalent on social media. You may not find the article reassuring, because it actually shows that fake news has a long history that stretches back into the early days of American journalism.

Each part of this discussion relates to one of the articles. Please cover all four parts:

“Print Is Dead…”: Choose a newspaper website (local or national) and explore it. How does the experience differ from reading an actual newspaper? Can an online newspaper as effectively serve audiences (as the print version)? Think of the organization (sections, etc.) and how one thumbs through a paper compared to bouncing from link to link, so can an online newspaper as effectively serve audiences? What about this statement from the article?: “And the most crucial assumption publishers have made about readers, particularly millennials—that they prefer the immediacy of digital—now seems questionable, too.” Do you agree? Please explain.

The Washington Post article: This publication, which has a storied history (going back to Watergate), is being called “the most innovative company in the newspaper business.” Consider this quote from the article:
“In the three years since Amazon’s Jeff Bezos bought the Post for $250 million—now seen as a steal for one of the great brands in publishing—the Post has reinvented itself with digital speed. Its Web traffic has doubled since Bezos arrived, and it far outstrips The New York Times (and even BuzzFeed) in the number of online posts its reporters file every day. So successful has the Post become in the digital game that it now licenses its content management system to other news outlets, a business that could generate $100 million a year.

I’d like you to see if you can find evidence of this success. Do some detective work: Visit the site, check its tweets and its Facebook presence. Can you recognize the things that bring such praise? Can you see innovation? What do you see what sets it apart? Explain and provide links to the evidence you come up with.

“Where the Digital Dollars Have Gone”: This article provides us with lots of graphs that show the acquisitions and expenditures of major media companies. I’d like you to choose one of the media organizations, examine the information, and relate their strategies to two of the key concepts. First, explain what the company is trying to do, then relate it to two of the key concepts.

“The Real History of Fake News”: After considering this historical lesson, what do you think this says about the relationship between news and society? Why do you think fake news is so prevalent right now, particularly on social media — what does it say about our relationship with news?