A Comparative Study of Online News - Speech or Presentation Example

Slide Internet Revolution Revisited: A Comparative Study of Online News  Slide 2: Initial Planning A project initiatedby Held & Fraser: Change in democracy (Curran. et.al, p-882) This study includes the analysis of 9 Websites 9 countries were chosen: 1. Australia 2. Colombia 3. Greece 4. India 5. Italy 6. Japan 7. Norway, 8. South Korea 9. United Kingdom Notes Curran et.al.’s study is an extension of a project initiated by Held and Fraser. The authors were concerned about democracy in the globalization era and how the internet was able to internationalize self expression. Moreover, they were interested to explore the cost effective as well as the speed of communication that was possible only because of internet. In this research presentation, Curran et. al, have studied the websites of nine countries namely Australia, Colombia, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Korea and United Kingdom. The aim was to analyze the features of different websites belonging to a diverse set of countries. Slide 3: Methodology A diverse sample was selected: A quantitative study was conducted 1000 adults were chosen in each country Online surveys took place in 7 countries Interviews took place in Greece & Colombia Frequency of exposure to different media was obtained Notes: Curran et. al chose 1000 adults from each country who were given an online surveys. In Greece and Colombia interviews were taken. The results that were obtained from these surveys showed the extent of media exposure in each country. In addition, the age groups which are more prone towards news updates were also recognized. Slide 4: Media Exposure in different Countries Source: Curran et.al (2013) Legend AS: Australia, CO: Colombia, GR: Greece, IN: India, IT: Italy, JP: Japan, KR: South Korea, NO: Norway, UK: United Kingdom Slide 5 : News Consumption News is mostly watch on Television TV viewing is highest in Italy, followed by India & Japan Norway & South Korea have higher penetration of Internet usage Newspapers are mostly read in India Radio is not a desirable option for listening to news Notes: The study revealed that television is the most consumed medium for knowing news. This is followed by the Internet and then Newspapers. Radio is the least used option for listening to news but still its usage comparatively high in Australia. The usage of Newspapers is considerably high in India because most of the population lives in rural areas. Slide 6: Media Exposure to different Ages Source: Curran et.al (2013) Slide 7: Change in media exposure TV viewing persists in most countries Shifting trends from the Television to the Internet Younger generation in most countries prefer Internet over the Television (Curran et. al, p-884) Notes: The younger generation in Australia, Greece, Japan, Korea and U.K, uses more internet for news related information. In Italy, the case is opposite as more aged people make use of the internet for news information. In Norway the situation is neutral with both old aged people and young ones use the internet equally (Curran et. al, p-884). Slide 8: Categories of News Hard News Stories which include: Public Affairs topics Politics Economy Soft News include stories having concern with: Human Interests Celebrities Gossips Entertainment Notes: The article has categorized new into 2 broad categories: 1. Hard News Stories are related to news which revolves around the state. It has national interest. For example: Public Affairs topics Politics Economy 2. Soft News include stories having concern with Human Interests, Celebrities, Gossips, Entertainment Slide 9: Sources of Hard News Source: Curran et.al (2013) Slide 10: Sources of Hard News India, Japan & Italy have most state-oriented websites These countries have least number of sources that represent the civil society Australia, Greece & Norway give most importance to individual citizens Curran et.al (p-887) attributed these divergences to be national differences Notes: Curran et. al (p- 887) deduced that India, Japan and Italy have more stat-oriented websites. More emphasis is given on what’s happening in politics. Civil society has smaller representation on websites. The case is different for Australia, Greece & Norway where importance is given to individual citizens, the overall society and entertainment industry (fashion, movies, and celebrities). Slide 11: Sources of Hard News (cont) Australia uses Experts more than any other countries for both TV and Websites Norway uses Business related news more than other forms Web news give more importance to authorities as compared to civil society Slide 12: Common Features There are four characteristics of online journalism (Bardoel & Deuze, p-5): 1. Interactivity; 2. Customisation 3. Hyper-textuality 4. Multimediality Notes: Bardoel & Deuze (p-5) state that online websites have four prominent features: 1. Interactivity: This feature is of utmost importance when it comes to online news websites. The authors state that it is a pure-audience friendly feature which facilitates the use of website. For example, interactivity features include services like: email exchange with the journalist, opinion/comments on the bulletins, web chat options. Such services help in making the online platform more interactive. 2. Customization: Some websites have the option of ‘pull content’ which can be old archives and ‘push content’ which are subscriptions. Using this feature a user can customize the kind of news he or she wants by selecting certain news category (Movies) and then the same would be sent to him/her via emails. This is known as Customization of content which is very appealing to some users. 3. Hypertexuality: Using this high-tech feature journalist are able to hyperlink the news item with original documents, making the news more authentic. 4. Multimediality: Using this feature journalist combine traditional media along with recent technologies. For example, embedding text, images, videos and audios on the websites. The use of banner advertisement is a form of multimediality. Slide 13: Australia Nguyen et. al (p-9) conducted a study on the online news trend in Australia 78% of users opted for newspaper’s websites for online news E.g: news.yahoo.com or news.com.au Popular Features: Convenience Richness of Content Immediacy Multimedia News on demand Participation opportunities Notes: Nguyen et. al (p-9) conducted a study on the online news trend in Australia in which 78% of users opted for newspaper’s websites for online news. For e.g: news.yahoo.com or news.com.au. Some of the popular features of the website are: Convenience Richness of Content Immediacy Multimedia News on demand Participation opportunities Slide 14: Ninemsn.com.au The website has small sections Crowded information Broad categories like: News Sports Finance Entertainment Lifestyle Notes: Curran et. al (p-894) chose ninemsn.com.au to be the most prominent website for Australia. The format of the website seemed crowded. There were 5 broad categories namely: News Sports Finance Entertainment Lifestyle Slide 15: Most Popular Feature Source: (Nguyen et al, p-24) Slide 16: Colombia Written journalism is well established News websites are owned by leading Newspaper Organizations (Curran et.al, p-895) For this study Eltiempo.com has been chosen Notes: In Colombia, written journalism is well established and news websites are mostly owned by leading Newspaper Organizations (Curran et.al, p-895). For this study the authors chose Eltiempo.com as the most prominent website of Colombia. Slide 17: Website Features News related to sports, policy, entertainment & World are divided into small sections More emphasis is given to Sports (ElTiempo, 2014) ‘View’ section publishes public & columnists’ opinions/blogs No audios/videos observed on front page No third party advertisement placed on the website Notes: The website displays Colombian Football schedule on its first page. News related to sports, policy, entertainment & World are divided into small sections. The ‘View’ section publishes public & columnists’ opinions/blogs which shows that more focus is made on the civil society. No audios/videos were observed on the front page. In addition, no third party advertisement placed on the website which made it look quite simple. Here it can be deduced that multimediality feature is quite low. Slide: 18 - Interactivity Feature was quite visible on the Colombian website. Slide 19: Greece www.in.gr was chosen for the study (Curran et.al. p-894) Website features were mostly crowded Small fonts Too many tabs focusing on social issues: Marriage Toys Women Shopping Child Car Notes: The webistewww.in.gr of Greece had more soft news than hard news. Multimedia usage was quite prominent. There was no option for subscription of news therefore the website lacked customization feature. Slide 20: Greece (cont) Banner advertisement on top of the website Vividly designed website Too many advertisements News is more focused on women & fashion Minimalistic information on state issues Notes: Banner advertisement was placed on top of the website showing the use of multi media. The website is vividly designed but there were too many advertisements and lesser news. The news was more focused on women & fashion (soft news). Minimalistic information on state issues was visible. Slide 21: India Website chosen for the study: www.rediff.com Simple design Emphasis given on Business, Stock market & Trade A small section is devoted to Movies and Celebrity Gossips A separate bar is allotted for online shopping (Rediff, 2014) Notes: Rediff.com had more of hard news as compared to other countries’ websites. More focus was made on business, stock market, political issues and trade. After that, a small section was devoted to Movies and Celebrity Gossips. Online shopping was a prominent tab on the website. Slide 22: Rediff picture Slide 23: Italy Curran et. al (2013) chose the website www.tgcom24.com The website uses bigger fonts as compared to other websites Colourful format with videos on the front page More emphasis on hard news Notes: Curran et. al (2013) chose the website www.tgcom24.com for Italy. The website used bigger fonts as compared to other websites. Colourful format with videos on the front page proved that it uses the multimedia feature. More emphasis was made on hard news but a section on right side was also devoted to Lifestyle news. Slide 24: Website Features Left side of the page has state-related news Right side of the page has news related to society & entertainment Large space devoted to Lifestyle (tgcom24, 2014) Slide 25: Website Features Slide 26: Japan The most famous news website is Yahoo.com.jp The format is same as Yahoo’s standard format Services are mentioned on left side News items are published in the centre Yahoo’s products are displayed on top Notes: Japan’s website was Yahoo which has standard formats. in every country. The view was simple with extended services mentioned on the left side of the page. The immediacy and customization features are visible on the website. Slide 27: Japan picture Slide 28: Norway Vg.no was chosen for the study The website has banner advertisements on the right side of the page Text based advertisement present on top of the page Pictorial view with big fonts More emphasis on soft news (VG, 2014) Notes: Vg.no is Norway’s popular website. The website has banner advertisements on the right side of the page and text based advertisement present on top of the page. It has the multimedia feature. Pictorial view with big fonts make it more user friendly. More emphasis is given on soft news (VG, 2014) Slide 29: Features Text-based ad Videos are not so prominent Pictorial View Slide 30: South Korea The website selected for study is: daum.net The format is simple with small fonts More text and less pictures The site is full of soft news Banner advertisement present on top Videos are available on front page (Daum, 2014) Notes: The website selected for South Korea is: daum.net. The format is simple with small fonts, more text and less pictures. The site is full of soft news like apparel, celebrities, movies, entertainment etc. Banner advertisement is present on top of the website. Videos are also available on the front page (Daum, 2014). Therefore, the site makes extensive use of multimedia. Slide 31: Website Features Slide 32: United Kingdom The researchers chose: www.theguardian.com/uk Banner advertisement is placed on top Both hard & soft news are visible Extensive features also present. E.g: Dating, Science, Travel Notes: Theguardian.com.uk has a well-organized format. It included new options like dating, science, travel, which were not included by other websites. Slide 33: Traditional Media Internet technology is a powerful medium of communication Empowers an ordinary person Traditional media allows top-down communication Horizontal communication in internet age Traditional media is more dependant on elite groups (Curran et. al, p-886) Notes: There is a vast difference between the internet age and the use of traditional media. The internet technology empowers the ordinary man and delivers the power of sharing content from the elite to the general public. The mode of communication is orizontal as opposed to the top-don channel in traditional media. According to Curran et.al (p-886) traditional media was dependant more on the elite sources for information. Slide 34: Conclusion Websites around the world publish the same kind of news as a legacy Websites mostly favour the commands of authorities compared to those of experts Most websites cover the home-nation 9 prominent websites were studied of each country Most websites had advertisements to make them more appealing India’s rediff.com & S. Korea’s daum.net are owned by large media groups User generated content Three types of news sites: 1. Owned by established media organizations 2. Independent News websites 3. Social Websites Notes: Websites around the world are more or less same. Journalists and experts are mostly allowed to add content on websites. However, user generated content is also available in abundance. Nine websites were examine din this article. Some of them used multimedia to make their website look more appealing. User generated content is in the form of blogs, opinions and comments whereas the original content is created by journalists. The study concluded that news websites can either belong to well-established newspaper groups, or they could be independent news sites or news can spread through social networks. Read More