Media have come a long way since their inception. From old to new and from unilateral to participatory, the term ‘media’ has undergone a drastic change both in its meaning and practice. While traditional print media had been an archaic way of disseminating information usually involving one-way communication, new media—a twenty-first century catchall term—has made communication with masses more interactive than ever before.
For past some years, it has been observed that print media industry in the West has been switching to online journalism featuring new media technologies after facing a sharp decline, with its print ad revenue falling steeply. In its report, titled State of the News Media 2016, Pew Research Centre found that both weekday and Sunday circulation of newspapers in the United States experienced a decline not seen since the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession. Average weekday circulation fell 7 percent, while Sunday circulation fell 4 percent, showing their greatest declines since 2010. This drop was entirely due to decline in print circulation by 9 percent.
Similarly, advertising revenues have continued to deteriorate even amid a healthy overall economic situation. For instance, in New York Times, the print advertising decreased 19 percent in quarter 3 of 2016, while Wall Street Journal announced that it was consolidating some sections of the newspaper to cope with dwindling advertising sales. Many newspapers in the West have also been losing their audiences, that is why big newspaper organisations like New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, have focussed on strengthening their online editions.
Media researchers have found that in the light of newspapers’ struggle to maintain readers and viability in the digital era, newspapers in America are responding to this shift by embracing new media technologies, and user-generated and multimedia content. It has been seen that the Internet has dramatically expanded these newspapers’ audiences. As per the Pew report of 2016, most of the newspaper websites in the US have experienced growth in traffic, mobile traffic in particular, and an increased digital circulation.
In India, over the years, there has been a trend among mainstream newspapers to supplement their print versions with online media. It has been found that doing so, the publications have achieved impressive online readership. Usually, a publication’s website is indicative of the importance accorded by it to the new media. A well maintained website is seen to improve brand image of a newspaper, while a poorly managed web version reflects a rather passive approach on its part. The web offers many additional features not found in traditional print media including immediacy, interactivity, memory and multimedia products. That is why, Indian newspapers are adopting this new trend of the digital era.
It was predicted by communication authors a decade ago that online newspapers shall attract and engage more readers by delivering digital services, given the increasing capability of information and communication technology. Media researchers have argued that the tools and utilities like e-mails, RSS feeds, web postings, live chat rooms, online polls and surveys, discussion forums, etc., could provide interactive communication to make the online newspapers a public sphere of discussion. This is exactly what can be seen happening nowadays.
In this context, the current study has been conducted, which aims to assess the digital trend in India as to why and how newspaper organisations have embraced online journalism. It endeavours to assess how national newspapers strive to stay in competition with new forms of media. It also aims at analysing new media features of the websites of ten leading English dailies of India and draws a comparison between them in the light of new media features.
The study used a sample of ten websites of the top circulated English newspapers published from India. According to latest readership data for 2017 released by Indian Readership Survey (IRS), which is the world’s largest continuous study and the currency for print media, The Times of India leads English dailies by a huge margin. The total readership (in December, 2017) of ToI stands at 1,30,47,000, while the number 2 publication, Hindustan Times recorded a total readership of 68,47,000. The Hindu is the third largest read English daily in the country followed by The Economic Times, the English business daily from The Times Group. Mumbai Mirror and The Indian Express are at number 5 and number 6, respectively. The Telegraph, The New Indian Express and The Tribune are separated by a total readership of a few thousands at number 7, 8 and 9, respectively. Deccan Chronicle sits at number 10 among English dailies.
The study analysed new media features of the websites of sample newspapers, viz., social media sharing, RSS feeds, infographics, hyperlinks, archives, news updates and so on. A comparison was also drawn between the websites in terms of usage of new media technologies. The units of analysis included the six basic characteristics of online media, viz., interactivity, hyperlinks, multimedia, immediacy, memory and personalization. The analysis was made in terms of various parameters falling under these characteristics.
The study concluded that the leading national English dailies of India have adopted online media featuring new media technologies so as to stay in competition with the ever growing new media. Since many newspaper organisations in the West have brought down the curtain on their print editions, Indian newspapers do not seem to take any chance of losing their audience. That is why, they provide them with numerous features of the online media, including the service, which online and television media are known for, that is, news updates. The newspapers update news on regular basis on their websites, which many a time include breaking news alerts. Therefore, nowadays, it cannot be said that newspaper audiences have to wait for 24 hours to get updated news and information.
It was also found that national newspapers try to be as interactive with their readers as possible by providing them with features like social media sharing, feedback and live comments options on their online editions. This indicates that the newspapers are striving hard to stay in business given the advances in new media technologies. Earlier, newspaper journalism would be more or less unilateral, with audiences merely posting letters to editors with little hope of getting them published. Nowadays, however, innumerable comments can be posted online by readers instantly to the stories and articles they read besides feedback to overall performance of the publication. They also share the same on social networking sites, thus circulating the content like never before.
The newspaper sites also offer multimedia products to their audiences, which include videos in the form of recorded visuals or live television, photo-galleries, infographics and e-paper. Thus, unlike in the past, newspapers do not offer only text, but audio and visuals as well. This has reduced the dependability of the audiences on television media for video updates. The newspapers also send news alerts to mobile devices through their respective apps, which also makes it possible for them to break news before other forms of media.
The archive feature of the newspaper sites has made it possible for readers to go through the previous editions while sitting at home. Since archives are arranged according to dates, it has become hassle-free to search for the required matter. The hyperlinks provided by the newspaper sites help readers explore the background of the topic, which was not possible for newspapers to do before. Therefore, it can be stated that with their online editions taking strides, the print media shall continue to thrive for a long period.
(Research paper presented at 1st International Conference on Recent Developments in Science, Humanities and Management-2018 (ICRDSHM-18), organised by Amar Singh College, Srinagar, in collaboration with AR Research Publication and Conference World team on April 17-18, 2018).