I think that the Internet has a very big impact on the journalism industry indeed. In the past whereby news are delivered in the form of print using cheap inexpensive paper so as to make it easy to carry around and dispose of when we are done.


However, we now live in an age of mobility. As we move around our daily lives, we are accompanied by devices that was once only a figment of our imagination. Cell phones that integrate functions such as photo taking, personal organizer, movie player, internet browser and much more in a single device. Such an example could be Apple's iphone.


Devices are getting smaller in size and yet hold more functions that their own stand alone counterparts. Hence it is no wonder people consider lugging a stack of news print around a burden now. It makes more sense to be able to read our news on these devices. Hence news companies like The Straits Times in Singapore has given readers an option to subscribe to their digital version of the newspaper instead.

However, in a bid to retain readers to their print version of the newspaper. The print version cost 50% cheaper as you can see from the subscription costs below.


I believe the reason for doing so is simply advertising. We are able to enjoy cheap newspaper in the past because of advertisers buying ad space in the newspaper itself. Costs will vary depending on the size of the ad but this is an effective tool for advertising as many people are interested in the news. And by integrating advertisements into the newspaper, it is a sure way of getting people to view them.

Compared to the online version, space for advertisement are much more limited. People want to view just the news on their mobile devices and do not want their screen to be clogged up by ads. That is why I believe that it is only natural that the digital version costs more to subscribe to. This is how a digital version of The Straits Times looked like.


There is another option for users though, there is a summarized version of the newspaper online. This version comes with its price though, ads will appear in various part of the screen and the story will come with minimal details. A good way if you just want a quick version of the happenings around us but unfortunately one does not get much details from this. A nice marketing technique to entice readers to buy the newspaper if they want the full story.

So what impact does all this have on the journalism industry. Firstly, advertisers will definitely be affected due to limited space for advertisements now. Secondly, marketers who develop advertisements now not only have a limited space to work with, but they have to capture the audience in a digital format as well. However, what use to be a static advertisement can now be modified with animations and other effects to better capture the audience's attention. As for reporters, they used to have a dateline to meet, since a newspaper will go to print at a certain timing and all news stories for that day are expected to be in before that dateline. However, for the digital version, news can be uploaded the moment they are completed. As you can see from the picture of the iphone above, below each article is the time by which they are uploaded. I believe this is more flexible for reporters compared to the past. And important stories do not have to wait for the next day to get printed but can go online the moment it is ready.

And how does all these affects the jobs in the industry? I guess the main impact will be on marketers, they have to be more versatile and adopt whatever multimedia tools they have at their disposal. Reporters may be able to enjoy greater freedom but it will still depend on the editors when it comes to datelines. I don't think that much people will be lay off, just that they have to be responsive and be adaptable to changing times, moving from print to digital.