Digital journalism

For the academic journal, see Digital Journalism (journal). "Digital journalist" and "Internet news" redirect here. For the magazine, see The Digital Journalist. For the Usenet forums, see Usenet newsgroup.

Digital journalism, also known as netizen journalism or online journalism, is a contemporary form of journalism where editorial content is distributed via the Internet, as opposed to publishing via print or broadcast. What constitutes digital journalism is debated amongst scholars. However, the primary product of journalism, which is news and features on current affairs, is presented solely or in combination as text, audio, video, or some interactive forms like storytelling stories or newsgames and disseminated through digital media technology.[1][2]

Fewer barriers to entry, lowered distribution costs and diverse computer networking technologies have led to the widespread practice of digital journalism.[3] It has democratized the flow of information that was previously controlled by traditional media including newspapers, magazines, radio and television.[4] In the context of digital journalism, online journalists are often expected to possess a wide range of skills, yet there is a significant gap between the perceived and actual performance of these skills, influenced by time pressures and resource allocation decisions.[5]

Some have asserted that a greater degree of creativity can be exercised with digital journalism when compared to traditional journalism and traditional media.[6] The digital aspect may be central to the journalistic message and remains, to some extent, within the creative control of the writer, editor and/or publisher.[6] While technological innovation has been a primary focus in online journalism research, particularly in interactivity, multimedia, and hypertext; there is a growing need to explore other factors that influence its evolution. [7]

It has been acknowledged that reports of its growth have tended to be exaggerated.[8] In fact, a 2019 Pew survey showed a 16% decline in the time spent on online news sites since 2016.[8] In the United States, reports issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2011 and by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) in 2023 found that increases in newsroom staffing at digital-native news websites from 2008 to 2020 were not offsetting cuts in newsroom staffing among newspapers (which numbered in the tens of thousands of jobs), and that newspapers and television (which had been seeing declining newsroom staffing alongside newspapers) still employed the majority of payrolled newsroom staff in the United States in 2022 while online-only news websites employed less than 10%.[9][10][11]

The GAO and CRS reports noted further that the reduction in subscription and advertising revenue for the U.S. newspaper industry from 2000 to 2020 that constituted the overwhelming majority of its inflation-adjusted total revenue was not being offset by digital circulation or online advertising despite almost two-thirds of U.S. advertising spending in total by 2020 being online.[12][13] Also, while the FCC report noted that local television stations in the United States had become some of the largest providers of local news online,[14] the FCC found in a 2021 working paper that inflation-adjusted advertising revenue for television stations fell nationally from 2010 to 2018.[15]

  1. ^ Franklin, Bob (2013). "Digital Journalism", 1:1, p. 1. DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2012.740264". Digital Journalism. 1: 1–5. doi:10.1080/21670811.2012.740264. S2CID 219540468.
  2. ^ Kawamoto 2003, p. 4.
  3. ^ Herbert, John (2000). Journalism in the Digital Age: Theory and Practice for Broadcast, Print and On-line Media. Taylor & Francis. p. 9. ISBN 9780240515892. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  4. ^ Boler, Megan (2010). Digital Media and Democracy: Tactics in Hard Times. MIT Press. p. 385. ISBN 9780262514897. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  5. ^ Himma-Kadakas, Marju; Palmiste, Greete (2019-04-03). "Expectations and the actual performance of skills in online journalism". Journal of Baltic Studies. 50 (2): 251–267. doi:10.1080/01629778.2018.1479718. ISSN 0162-9778.
  6. ^ a b Kawamoto, Kevin (2003). Digital Journalism: Emerging Media and the Changing Horizons of Journalism. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 2. ISBN 9780742526815. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  7. ^ Steensen, Steen (2011). "Online Journalism and the Promises of New Technology". Journalism Studies. 12 (3): 311–327. doi:10.1080/1461670x.2010.501151. hdl:10642/601. Retrieved 2024-05-29.
  8. ^ a b "5 key takeaways about the state of the news media in 2018". 23 July 2019.
  9. ^ GAO 2023, pp. 10–11.
  10. ^ CRS 2023, pp. 8–9.
  11. ^ FCC 2011, pp. 34, 87–91, 96–102.
  12. ^ GAO 2023, pp. 5–9.
  13. ^ CRS 2023, pp. 3–4, 6–8.
  14. ^ FCC 2011, pp. 5–70, 105–112, 116–145, 180–183, 188–191.
  15. ^ Makuch, Kim; Levy, Jonathan (January 15, 2021). Market Size and Local Television News (PDF) (Report). Federal Communications Commission, Office of Economics and Analytics. pp. 5–6. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
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