Online Newspapers: Living Up to Their Potential? Q1
Online Newspapers: Living Up to Their Potential?
The number of online newspapers in the world nearly doubled in a recent
six-month period, bringing the total to 3,622. The number of daily newspapers
in the United States with online editions increased from 197 to 492 during the
last year (Meyer, 1997).
At this point, online newspapers are a focal point of media convergence, with
many ties to traditional print newspapers but with the potential for many new
features from the world of mixed-media digital communication, including audio,
moving video, animation, and increased user control.
Some critics suggest that online newspapers so far are not living up to their
potential. The critics claim that many online newspapers are following the old
newspaper guidelines of presenting news every 24 hours instead of updating
continuously, that they are merely placing the content of their print newspapers
("shovelware") online, and that they are not taking advantage of such special
features of the World Wide Web as interactivity, hypertext, and multimedia.
McLuhan noted that the content of a new medium is always another medium
(McLuhan, 1964). He pointed out that radio was initially know as "wireless,"
indicating it was thought of as a new form of telegraph. The term "online
newspaper" may show the same kind of thinking. If, as McLuhan suggests, online
newspapers are being thought of in terms of print newspapers, they might not be
taking advantage of particular features of the web such as interactivity, the
possibility for frequent updating (immediacy), and the potential for hypertext
links and other kinds of original material (originality of content).
Los Angeles Times media critic David Shaw observes that "With some notable
exceptions, online newspapers tend to use 'shovelware': they essentially shovel
the content of their printed papers onto the Internet, without either providing
much new or original material, making it truly interactive, displaying it in a
significantly more compelling fashion or doing anything else that sites created
specifically for the Net routinely do (Shaw, 1997a)."
Potential for Immediacy
Online newspapers offer the potential for much greater immediacy in news
coverage. One writer has suggested that "online newspaper editions and 24-hour
cable news channels have obliterated the news cycle, increasingly exponentially
the opportunities to get the story out" ( Moore, 1998). Scott Woelfel, editor
in chief of CNN, notes that the 24-hour deadline is an artificial one based on
distribution needs (Lasica, 1997).
But other authors suggest that the online newspapers of today may be following
the deadline every 24 hours that is characteristic of daily print newspapers. A
content analysis of online newspapers by Gubman and Greer (1997) found that 71.1
percent updated no more often than daily. One problem may be that many
newspapers do not allow their online version to scoop their print versions
(Ross, 1998).
Potential for Hypertext
One of the strong features at the core of the World Wide Web is hypertext
links, or hot links. Using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), web page creators
are able to place within their documents links that, when clicked on, take the
reader to another page or another web site entirely. Hypertext links of this
type have the potential to change the very nature of written text from something
linear and with discrete boundaries to something with multiple entry points,
multiple paths determined by the user, and no boundaries (Bolter, 1991).
Negroponte notes that hypertext removes the limitations of the printed page.
With hypertext, he suggests, "an expression of an idea or train of thought can
include a multidimensional network of pointers to further elaborations or
arguments, which can be evoked or ignored" (p. 70). Hypertext links could be
particularly useful for bringing context and background into news stories. They
could also be used to structure news very differently. News stories could be
created in small modules, with the reader being allowed to define the story
structure by choosing the links he or she wishes. But online newspapers may not
be taking advantage of this feature.
Potential for Multimedia
Another strength of the web is the opportunity for offering not just text but
photographs, animated graphics, audio clips and video clips. As Sheizaf Rafaeli
noted, "The Net's capacity for addressing senses far surpasses that of any other
medium. In a sense, this indicates that the medium serves less than ever before
in a constraining, guiding role" (Newhagen & Rafaeli, 1996, p.5). In the
future, these varieties of media will probably be integrated seamlessly so that
a user hardly notices shifting from one to another (Negroponte, 1995). But even
now, it is possible for an online newspaper to offer audio clips of sound bites
or video sequences of news events.
Potential for Interactivity
The web also offers the potential of much greater interactivity between the
user and the medium than print newspapers. Negroponte (1995) visualizes the
newspaper of the future as being highly personalized, with the computer learning
what kind of content a particular user wants and producing a customized online
edition.
But it is not clear that online newspapers will take this path. Howard
Rheingold (1993) has expressed concern that the new media may be seen as
"ever-more-effective conduits for broadcasting more of the same old stuff to
more people, with most interactivity limited to channel selection" (p.274).
In one examination of online newspaper interactivity, Gubman and Greer (1997)
found that only 55.4 percent of the online newspapers they looked at provided
either a reporter's or editor's e-mail address or gave addresses for specific
departments, while only 40 percent provided forums for users to discuss news and
issues.
Tremayne (1997) studied 15 online sites (newspaper, television and other) and
found they scored an average of 3.0 on an interactivity scale ranging from 0 to
6. His results showed that the newspapers showed more interactivity than the
television sites, but his sample of five online newspapers was made up almost
exclusively of sites associated with large circulation newspapers. He also
found that newer sites tended to offer more interactivity than older sites.
Potential for Expanded News Coverage
The availability of space on the World Wide Web means that online newspapers
also have the potential for increased coverage of local news. Newspaper critic
Shaw says, "The Internet, with its infinite 'news hole,' can Q at least in
theory Q provide more detailed local news and information than even the best
local newspapers" (Shaw, 1997b). James H. Denley, editor and president of the
Birmingham Post Herald, has said one of the reasons his publication created an
online newspaper was to serve the community with local information (Harper,
1996, p. 10).
A previous study provides support for the notion that online newspapers might
not be taking full advantage of the features of the web. Gubman and Greer
(1997) examined to what extent online newspapers were accurately described by
their critics. They found that few online newspapers updated their content more
than once a day, few used multimedia elements, few attempted to put a local spin
on national news, and few offered online discussion forums. But they did find
that online newspapers were doing better than critics contend in putting news on
the first screen available and in providing for interaction with readers via
e-mail.
Predictors of Use of Web Innovations
Gubman and Greer (1997) found that sites associated with larger newspapers were
more likely than sites associated with smaller newspapers to put news on the
first screen, carry national news, provide links to news wires, update
frequently, deviate from traditional newswriting style, use multimedia, provide
e-mail addresses, offer online discussion forums, and have comprehensive
archives. They found that the age or start-up date of a site was related to
whether advertising is present, but not to the other characteristics of online
newspapers.
Tremayne (1997) found that newer sites offered more user interactivity features
than older sites, but he only looked at 15 sites.
In a study of print newspapers, Lacy and Bernstein (1988) found that large
circulation dailies gave a greater percentage of news space to staff coverage,
foreign news, and in-depth coverage than small or medium circulation dailies.
They attribute the differences to the greater financial resources and larger
staffs of large newspapers.
Research Questions
This study attempted to assess to what extent online newspapers are taking
advantage of the opportunities for new forms of digital communication offered by
the World Wide Web. The study attempted to answer the following questions:
1. How frequently do online newspapers update their sites?
2. To what extent are online newspapers providing hyperlinks associated with
specific news stories?
3. To what extent do online newspapers offer multimedia features?
4. To what extent do online newspapers offer interactivity features to users?
5. To what extent do online newspapers include material not contained in the
print newspapers associated with their sites?
6. Are there relationships between selected predictor variables (age of online
site, size of online staff, size of audience, and circulation of the associated
print newspaper) and the tendency of the online newspapers to adopt special
features of the World Wide Web?
Method
The research questions were answered by means of an e-mail survey of online
newspapers and a content analysis of the web sites of responding online
newspapers.
The e-mail questionnaire was sent to the census of 424 full-service, general
circulation U.S. daily online newspapers listed by American Journalism Review's
NewsLink. This number is lower than the figure of 492 reported in an American
Journalism Review article (Meyer, 1997) because some newspapers are sharing web
sites, some of the 492 were not dailies, and some of them were other types of
sites such as business publications. Four follow-up mailings of the
questionnaires were sent to online newspapers that had not responded. The
original mailing and follow-ups took place in October and November, 1997.
The survey was designed to include questions measuring variables dealing with
basic characteristics of the online newspapers and variables measuring the
tendency of an online newspaper to take advantage of computer-mediated
communication and special features of the World Wide Web. A pretest of the
e-mail questionnaire was carried out with 20 online newspapers randomly selected
from the list. On the basis of the pretest, some questions were rewritten for
greater clarity.
The content analysis was conducted with the online newspaper sites for the 135
online newspapers that responded to the e-mail questionnaire. A coding form was
developed and tested for coder reliability. After revision and retesting,
Holsti coefficients for all variables kept on the coding form ranged from 70% to
100%. The content analysis of web sites took place in February, 1998.
Circulations of newspapers associated with online newspapers were obtained from
the 1997Editor & Publisher InternationalYearbook.
Variables from the survey
Variables dealing with basic characteristics of the online newspaper included
age of the site in months, number of employees in the online operation, and
number of site visitors per day. The question measuring number of site visitors
per day asked "how many users visit your site per day?" But questionnaire
responses made it apparent that many answers were being given in terms of
average number of hits or impressions per day, which could be much higher than
the number of unique visitors, so this variable needs to be used with caution.
Variables related to the tendency of an online newspaper to take advantage of
computer-mediated communication and special features of the World Wide Web
included amount of web-only content in the online newspaper, immediacy (how
frequently they updated their sites), and interactivity (are e-mail addresses
provided for individual staff members, to what extent is e-mail answered).
Variables from the content analysis
The content analysis was designed to measure variables related to use of
hypertext links, various aspects of multimedia, and several kinds of features
providing opportunities for user interactivity.
The first three news stories on each site were rated on the following scale of
use of hyperlinks:
1. There are no hot links associated with the story (0 points).
2. There are hot links associated with the story but they are grouped at the
begining or the end or the side of the main text (1 point).
3. There are hot links within the main text of the story (2 points).
An index of hypertext use was created by summing the scores for the three
stories.
The sites were examined for the presence or absence of the following multimedia
features: video clips, audio clips, animated (moving) graphics, tables or
graphs, and photographs. In addition, an index of multimedia use was
constructed by assigning one point for the presence of each feature and adding
the number of points.
The sites were examined for the presence or absence of the following features
offering some kind of interactivity to the user: search engines for news
archives, chat rooms, discussion forums or bulletin boards, e-mail addresses for
the editor or webmaster, customized news services, surveys or polls (excluding
rating of the web site), and interactive games. In addition, an index of
interactivity was created by assigning one point for the presence of each
feature and adding the number of points.
Results
Responses were received from 135 of the 424 online newspaper sites, for a
response rate of 32 percent.
The sites ranged in age from three months old to 40 months old, with the
average being 18.3 months.
The size of the online staffs ranged from 0 to 55 fulltime workers, with the
average being 4.8 (Table 1).
The number of site visitors per day ranged from 20 to 235,000. The mean was
8,926, the median was 1,600, and there were two modes at 1,000 and 3,000. These
numbers may be high. As noted before, respondents may have been reporting
number of page hits or impressions rather than number of site visitors.
Immediacy
Most (57 percent) said they updated their site every 24 hours, indicating a
rather close adherence to print newspaper deadlines. Another 41 percent said
they updated more frequently than every 24 hours, and 2 percent said they
updated less frequently than every 24 hours (Table 2).
Hypertext
The content analysis examined 396 online newspaper stories to determine whether
they contained hot links. It found that 94 percent of the stories contained no
links, 5 percent contained links at the top, bottom or side, and 2 percent
contained links embedded within the text. By and large, online newpapers were
taking stories from the print newspaper and putting them on the web site without
adding links.
Multimedia
The content analysis found that 77 percent of the online newspapers used
photographs on their site, but fewer than 10 percent of the sites offered
animated graphics, audio clips, video clips or tables or graphs (Table 3).
Interactivity
Interactivity was measured through the e-mail questionnaire by whether the site
offered users the possibility of interacting via e-mail and to what extent they
made individual replies to those e-mail messages. A large majority (74 percent)
of the sites indicated they provided e-mail addresses for at least some
individual staff members (Table 4). This may not amount to much in the way of
interactivity unless the user's messages receive replies, however. Nearly half
(49 percent) of the sites said they answered 100 percent of the non-spam
messages they received and most of the sites answered at least 50 percent (Table
5).
Interactivity was also measured through the content analysis (Table 6). A
majority of web sites offered e-mail addresses for the editor or webmaster (96
percent), but fewer than half of the online newspapers provided the other
interactivity features.
Original Content
Most online newspapers (73%) reported in the e-mail survey that they contained
material not included in the print newspapers associated with their sites (Table
5), but this extra material often consisted of dining guides, tourism
information, information about the region, and special project stories (Table
5). A majority of the sites (51%) reported that none of the material in their
online news site was written by online news staff members (Table 6). The average
percentage of material written by online staff members was 13 percent,
suggesting a rather heavy recycling of material from the print newspaper.
Predictors of Use of Special Features of the Web
Analyses were conducted to find the best predictors of the tendency of online
newspapers to adopt the special features of the World Wide Web (Table 9). The
two predictor variables that correlated with dependent variables were size of
the online staff and circulation of the associated newspaper. Size of the
online staff correlated (.43) with frequency of updating the site, indicating
that sites with large staffs updated more frequently.
Size of the online staff correlated posivitely with the hyperlinks index,
indicating that sites with larger staffs were more likely to attach hyperlinks
to specific news stories. Circulation of the associated newspaper correlated
(.36) with frequency of updating the site, indicating that sites associated with
larger organizations updated more frequently. Circulation correlated positively
with the interactivity, hyperlinks, and multimedia indexes, indicating that
larger organizations were more likely to offer features for user interactivity,
were more likely to insert hyperlinks in specific stories, and were more likely
to use multimedia features on their web sites.
Discussion
In line with McLuhan's notion that the content of a new medium is an older
medium, most online newspapers seem to be relying heavily on content from their
associated print newspapers. More than half the online newspapers said none of
the material on their sites was written by online news staff members. The
average percentage of material written by online staff members was 13 percent.
In another echo of the previous technology of print newspapers, most online
newspapers seem to be updating their pages no more frequently than every 24
hours. Some newspapers, including the Dallas Morning News (Weise, 1998) and the
San Jose Mercury News, (Ross, 1998) have begun breaking stories on the web that
have not appeared in the print newspaper first. But it appears that most online
newspapers have not adopted that policy.
The two measures of interactivity from the e-mail indicate some embracing of
this concept by online newspapers but perhaps not at a breakneck speed. A large
majority of the sites in the study provide e-mail addresses for individual
reporters or departments. But interactivity probably means that messages should
receive replies, and only about half the online newspapers report answering all
e-mail messages from users.
The content analysis showed most online newspapers were providing e-mail
addresses for the editor or webmaster and search engines for archives, but that
few providing such other means of user interactivity as discussion forums, chat
rooms, surveys or polls, customized news services, and interactive games.
Putting these findings together, it appears that many online newspapers are
simply using the online site to mirror or reproduce the content of the print
newspaper associated with the site. While some online newspapers appear to be
taking advantage of such features of the World Wide Web as frequent updating,
hypertext links embedded in stories, multimedia features other than photographs,
and interactivity features other than e-mail addresses and search engines for
archives, most online newspapers are not.
One reason that many online newspapers do not create more original content may
be the cost. Placing hypertext links in text in a meaningful way is a highly
labor-intensive endeavor. Many of the online newspaper sites reported having
only one or two staff members. With a staff that small, it would be difficult
to do more than just take the stories from the print newspaper and place them on
the web page. Even maintaining a minimal web site is expensive. In the last
year, many newspapers have abandoned their online sites because of the cost
(Stone, 1997).
Online newspapers may be slow to start utilizing hypertext links and other web
features for a number of reasons. It is very labor-intensive to add hypertext
links or multimedia features to individual stories. In the case of hypertext
links that might go outside of the site, online site workers may not want to
promote commercial enterprises by linking to them and they may not want to have
visitors leave their own site. And, as McLuhan noted, journalists may be
thinking of the new medium in terms of the old medium, print newspapers with
discrete stories and no audio or video. Some online newspaper sites seemed to
be designed primarily as a means of promoting the associated print newspapers.
The examination of predictor variables indicates that innnovativeness in using
World Wide Web features in online newspaper sites is most strongly associated
with the size of the online newspaper staff and the circulation of the
associated print newspaper, which is probably a measure of the size of the
organization. The importance of circulation of the associated print newspaper
as a predictor was also indicated in the Gubman and Greer (1997) study.
There may be two major types of online newspapers Q large ones supported by
large staffs and small ones where one or two staff members have to do all the
work. It is easy to see how one or two people trying to put out an online
newspaper every day might resort to taking content from the print newspaper and
putting it on the web page unaltered, might have trouble updating more than
every 24 hours, and might not want to take on additional duties.
Online newspapers appear to be taking advantage of some of the special features
of the web, although slowly. Most are providing e-mail addresses, at least for
the editor or webmaster. Most are at least including photographs. A few are
writing at least some of their own content and updating more than every 24
hours. Most are not taking full advantage of the opportunities for hypertext
links in news stories Q a feature that is developed much more strongly in many
other areas of the World Wide Web. Most are not providing the most meaningful
forms of user interactivity such as discussion forums and chat rooms that might
facilitate the discussion of public issues. And most have not ventured very far
into multimedia, with very little offering of audio clips or video clips.
Online newspapers are in a state of rapid evolution. In the near future, we
will undoubtedly see some features expand and become common as others drop by
the wayside. As Negroponte (1995) has suggested, the online newspaper of the
future won't be much like the ones in existence today.
References
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p. 1A-2A.
Negroponte, N. (1995). Being digital. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
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Table 1
Size of online news staff
Number
of staffers
0 10%
1-1.5 25
2-2.5 19
3-3.5 13
4-7 17
9-55 16
100%
mean 4.8
mode 1
median 2
range 0-55
Table 2
Frequency with which the online news operation places new material on its web
site
As soon as possible Q we are constantly updating 12%
More frequently than every 24 hours 29
Every 24 hours 56
Less often than every 24 hours 3
100%
Table 3
Percentage of online newspapers having various multimedia features
Percent
Photographs 77
Animated (moving) graphics 9
Audio clips 4
Video clips 2
Tables or graphs 2
Table 4
Whether the site provides e-mail addresses for individual staff members or
departments
Yes 74%
No 25
No response 1
100%
Table 5
Percentage of e-mail messages to the site receiving individual replies
0-50 percent 15%
51-99 percent 31
100 percent 47
No response 7
100%
mean 82.7
Table 6
Percentage of online newspapers having various interactivity features
Percent
E-mail address for editor or webmaster 96
Search engine for news archives 64
Discussion forum/Bulletin board 26
Chat 12
Survey or poll (not just for rating site) 10
Customized news 4
Interactive games 3
Table 7
Whether the site provides content not provided by the newspaper associated with
the site
Yes 73%
No 27
No response 1
100%
Table 8
Percentage of material on the online site written by online staff members
None 51%
1-10 percent 30
11-100 percent 26
No response 3
100%
Mean 13.3%
Table 9
Correlations between predictor variables and the tendency of the online
newspaper to adopt special features of the World Wide Web
Predictor variables
Age of Size of Circulation
online online Size of of print
site staff audience newspaper
Variables measuring
tendency to use Web
features
Frequency of updating the site .06 .43** .09 .36**
Hyperlinks index -.01 .23* .02 .33**
Multimedia index -..12 .21* .27 .25**
E-mail addresses for staff -.10 -.11 .17 -.07
Extent of answering e-mail .21 .18 -.01 -.01
Interactivity index -.09 .19 -.15 .32**
Amount of web-only content -.10 -.05 .18 -.06
* p < .05
** p < .005
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