The state of the news print media

PROFESSOR KEN MCKINNON summarises some of the issues discussed by the academic and industry analysts in the 2008 State of the News Print Media in Australia.

The 2008 State of the News Print Media in Australia is due out in December.

In the overview chapter, Professor Ken McKinnon, Chairman of the Australian Press Council, summarises some of the issues discussed by the academic and industry analysts in the report.

There have certainly been evolutionary changes in newsrooms and in reporters' roles, but the frequent prophecies of the imminent end of newspapers from the doomsayers have not been accurate for Australia, at least not yet. Discussion of trends in the print media, as a consequence, raises as many questions as answers.

The key trends that emerge from the material discussed in this edition include:

1. Convergence of media platforms has transformed newsrooms, requiring multi-skilled staff and reformed training practices, both in tertiary institutions and media organisations, and has led to substantial job losses.
    
2. Weekday circulation in broadsheets is generally holding steady, while there has been decline in tabloid circulation; the decline being more apparent in Sunday newspapers.
    
3. There have been continuing sharp increases in the number of readers accessing newspapers via the internet.
    
4. There have been steep falls in circulation in the magazine market, in individual titles, balanced somewhat by the publication of more titles in particular niche markets.
    
5. Traditional news values persist within established media organisations despite changed newsrooms and new media, even in the face of persistent official spin. Newspapers alone provide the sort of detailed background to, and analysis of, major stories that enable readers to place the matter within a relevant context.
    
6. There has been increased concentration of ownership into three main companies, News Ltd, Fairfax and APN News and Media.
    
7. Debates over increased use of outside contributions to newspapers continue. There appears to be greater reliance on press release material, news agency feeds from affiliated overseas newspapers, blogging and other sources including readers and paid (chequebook) contributions but data are scarce. Blogging on newspaper sites, by external contributors as well as employed journalists, has increased rapidly.
    
8. The vigorous efforts of the Press Council, and latterly the publishers' Right to Know campaign, have arrested the trend of several years toward erosion of free speech. Announcements of intention to legislate for more political openness, better Freedom of Information laws and practices, whistleblower protection and journalist shield laws have been encouraging.

[Editor's note: After a discussion of the information in the report on circulation and readership, and of the trends in ownership, Professor McKinnon turns to some of the other issues raised.]

The growth of online readership has special urgency for newspapers since news delivery over the internet does not depend upon the availability of a lot of capital. New publishers can come in since website start-up costs are relatively low. Reporting and editing costs for each issue are still important considerations. Depending on the breadth of the ambitions of the publisher it is certainly possible to become a niche publisher at little cost. Newspaper owners are energetically countering the perceived fragmentation threat with their own online editions and with blogs written by their journalists.

The principal trends here are efforts to monetise the rapidly increasing popularity of their sites and the increasing array of multi-media skills required of their staff. As for the print editions there is clearly a need for better measurement of who is reading what online. And for a better exploration of the differing attitudes of established media companies to online material, including blogs, following the realisation among publishers that the usual editing (monitoring) to avoid defamation law suits is essential in Australia. To what extent are newspaper websites less adventurous than those of individuals publishing niche blog sites, or the offerings of the maverick, online only, publishers?

Following the recently announced 550 staff redundancies at Fairfax Media, debate about whether Australian newspapers are 'dumbing-down' has surfaced again. News Ltd too has made recent international announcements that suggest there will be some reduction in the size of its newsroom staff to meet difficult economic times. No reliable data are available as newsroom staffing figures are not made public year-on-year. Owners claim that such information has to remain commercial-in-confidence. One consequence of the absence of good data is that there are divergent claims about work force trends: that the redundancies in one company will lead to its newspapers losing their best and brightest; and, alternately, that technology has enabled the production of newspapers of equal or better quality than in the past to be achieved with fewer personnel.

The way in which newspapers report public events (and, in some cases, greatly influence the course of public events) is often the subject of criticism on questions of fairness and balance. In the case of Dr Mohamed Haneef diligent and persevering investigatory work, led by one outstanding journalist, raised many doubts about the original trajectory of the story. Leads were pursued and the police work questioned in such a way that the prosecution appeared to be unjustified, doing the accused a real injustice. The analysis in this [year's] report provides a compelling picture of newspapers determined to devote enough resources to get to the bottom of a major security event and properly analyse it. The newspapers' efforts showed journalism at its best. Newspapers and good journalists in these types of stories perform a service to the nation.

In the light of that it is a pity that two outstanding investigating reporters, Hedley Thomas, who led the Haneef story, and Chris Masters, have recently retired both citing the pressures on them and their families arising from their efforts. The public benefits from the willingness of such journalists to get to the bottom of murky events that otherwise would go unchallenged.

Not all material in newspapers is developed by their own editorial staff. Content sources such as press agencies like AAP have long provided many stories for Australia's newspapers. The needs of a twenty-four hour newsroom have led to a greater reliance on such sources. Increasingly in a globalised world, newspapers develop relationships with overseas publications with which they share articles on a reciprocal basis. In contrast to the maintenance of overseas bureaux, such stories can lack the context that an Australian journalist working in a foreign country can provide. The current claim is that the greater reliance on outside sources has led to a diminution in quality. No particular data trend could be established. In this connection, there are a number of trends but no real conclusion as to where they will lead in the long-term.

The formidable growth over the last few years of media management teams (a.k.a. "spin doctors" or PR departments or Corporate Communications) within all organisations of any size, teams devoted to protection of senior executives and organisations and to getting the company's story published raises the bar for journalists and editors. Access to the principals involved in a news story, including CEOs and elected officials, is often well-nigh impossible. All of which leads to an unfortunate trend, as yet anecdotal and unquantified, in which the pressures of the newsroom (or according to some, laziness, or inadequately trained journalists) result in everyday reuse of press releases without re-writing, checking or analysis. Checking the reliability of press release information, or of unattributable "spin", lies at the heart of good journalism.

At the same time, the ability of the public to contribute to online blogs, to be sources for stories when no journalist was present or even to establish their own online publications constitutes a new element in journalism, "citizen journalism". A combination of the ubiquity of internet phone/cameras and the ease of transmission is now likely to result in non-journalists getting the first photos to newspapers, before even the police arrive, certainly before they can "manage" reporting in any way. We can now get the news as it happens, but this raises similar questions to those related to PR: the need to check the accuracy, fairness and balance of the material. Newspapers have increased difficulty in preventing publication of inaccurate material and can allow themselves to be used for reputation destruction.

Another aspect of this need for proper use of source material is the use of part-timers and what is sometimes pejoratively referred to as 'chequebook journalism', which has a long history in newspapers. Contributors reporting a significantly newsworthy event or an accident as news that would otherwise have gone unreported are normally paid without anyone considering it chequebook journalism. In short, the meaning of the term depends on the event reported, the degree of accuracy and reliability, and its placement in the paper. The debate on the ethics of the use of paid-for sources is one that will continue.

The foregoing trends increase the need properly to train journalists, both before starting on their careers and in-house. The trend toward an expectation by newspapers that new staff will be all-purpose, multi-skilled, ethically sensitive and infinitely adaptable work-horses, ready for whatever comes over thirty-year careers, is a big ask. Training institutions, and newspapers themselves, would be wise to devote resources to as much staff development as needed to ensure the industry can cope. While this report has three case studies of current trends and reactions within the industry to training, no analysis of any overall trend is attempted.

[Editor's note: After a discussion of the press freedom issues in the report, Professor McKinnon concludes.]

The already tough times for newspapers are about to get tougher as a direct consequence of world-wide economic hardships. Fortunately Australia is distinguished by newspaper management that is inventive and responsive to reader needs. Some see the necessary actions as a survival challenge, whereas others, more confident, see new opportunities. Most of the trends reported in this edition, particularly those that highlight the continuing importance to readers of the quality of journalism, are capable of exploitation in positive ways.

[Editor's note: The State of the News Print Media in Australia 2008 will be posted to the Council's website in the second week in December. A small number of printed copies will be available for sale from the Council office.]

See also
2006 The State of the News Print Media in Australia
2007 The State of the News Print Media in Australia
2008 The State of the News Print Media in Australia.

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