Introduction:
The nature of
publishing has drastically changed since the invention of the internet.
Initially used as method to distribute information more conveniently, it has
evolved and has seemingly integrated itself into contemporary media practices.
Through the convergence of media, people have been empowered to create their
own content, while at the same time viewing it, and collectively determining
the shape of the digital world. However, these new digital platforms have
potentially dismantled the publishing industry. Shirky (2009) argues “the
incredible difficulty, complexity, and expense of making something available to
the public – has stopped being a problem” hence leading to the idea that the
publishing industry is being replaced by the unknown digital world. Just
through observation, the distribution of traditional media such as newspapers
has noticeably plummeted and is seemingly being replaced by their online
publishing counterparts. As much as this fact proves Shirky is only partly true
in his argument about the replacement of the traditional publishing industry.
Online content is adding to traditional streams of publishing and creating even
more content to be given out to the public. While the internet has eliminated
the difficulty of distribution of media content, it is possible that it still requires
traditional media technologies. This paper therefore studies whether the
publishing industry has been replaced or if publishing is merely complemented
by online content while exploring what effects these changes have made. The
publishing industry will largely focus on the practices that are being
dismantled in print journalism but will also look at other mediums of
publishing that are being transformed due to the coming of the digital
industry.
How is
the publishing industry dismantled or replaced?
Shirky’s (2009)
argument does hold true as complex methods for distributing and producing media
content has never been easier due to the rise of digital media platforms. In
both circumstances, the public and the publishing technologies that they use
reshape and therefore dismantle traditional print journalism. In addition, one
of the integral roles of print media is the printing and distribution. Both of
which are superseded by the internet through online news companies that expand
the channels of distribution and voluntary citizen journalism made more
prominent through free blog hosting websites like Wordpress, Blogger and even
Twitter. In fact online technologies are more popular with the public and
professional news sites because texts can be customised and be sent out
immediately. Information is also easily accessible regardless of the audiences’
location. Networked and digital media give the average user greater
opportunities to voice their opinions and attract a global audience for little
cost and this is perhaps one of the big reasons why the traditional media
industry is being dismantled by those that aspire to inform the public (Rainie
& Wellman 2012). These citizen journalists, bloggers, vloggers or tweeters
provide a public check on the government and take on the role of the Fourth
Estate, a role that was previously exclusive to traditional media forms.
Furthermore, the
printing press or even buying air-time to promote a product in television or
radio comes with huge costs. Greenslade (2014) recently reported that “daily
newsprint newspaper market is falling at a rate of more than 8% a year”.
Moreover as newspaper sales decline companies compensate by increasing prices
to breakeven for their costs. Online publishing alleviates these costs by extracting
the process of printing press and distributing it. As news publications venture into online
territory, following the potential audiences that inhabit these virtual spaces,
this provides convincing evidence that print media is dying and leaving digital
publishing to develop. Therefore the need for a printing press or processes to
physically publish the content is left out dismantling the existing publishing
industry.
This transition from
print to online journalism could be better illustrated through the Actor
Network Theory (ANT ) (Banks 2011).
Rather than focusing on either social or technological factors in determining
the dismantling of the publishing industry (Banks 2011). It is best to look at
the different actors at play in the industry. In order for print news to
flourish, it needs the reporters writing articles, editors to sub-edit and
audiences to view the material but also computers, paper and the printing press
are equally important in delivering the news. However, as previously mentioned,
the technologies that distribute the published information are replaced by
online means. As a result of this technological change, social behaviours
involved with the publishing industry are altered and therefore dismantle print
journalism. Web 2.0 or the emergence of user generated content and social media
have decentralised the power of traditional news companies and have allowed
users to become producers catering to their own niche audiences, who could
potentially be creating content themselves (Crawford and Lumby 2011). The
Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA 2011) attribute the
transformation of the media environment through the: “digitisation of
content...which are blurring the traditional distinctions between broadcasting
and other media across all elements of the supply chain, for content
generation, aggregation, distribution and audiences”.
By applying ANT, it is
evident that the traditional publishing industry is being dismantled as the
actors that play a role in this networked industry are either weakened
(reporters sharing content creation with the public), replaced (means of
distribution) or omitted (the printing press) by new and digital media. However
this does not mean that traditional media platforms are being replaced entirely.
They are arguably being complemented by their digital counterparts through
media convergence.
 |
| ANT mind map of the digital and publishing industry |
Not
replaced but converged:
According to Jenkins
(2004) online technologies will decentralise the media power from traditional
media proprietors such as the BBC or CNN. Instead of looking at the digital
media as the medium that will bring about the demise of print, radio or
television, perhaps the existence of networked and digital media are also
complementing the old publishing industry rather than competing with it
entirely. Nightingale and Dwyer (2007) discuss the idea that both traditional
and new media are being integrated with each other to expand the possibilities
of content and interaction. Traditional media is being ‘internetised’
(Nightingale & Dwyer 2007), print and television for example use online
enhancements such as giving twitter handles or allowing audiences to
participate in communication with the publishing industry, through live
comments and suggestions. Furthermore, Jenkins (2006) argues that transmedia
storytelling and the convergence of publishing technologies enriches the
information the audience attains. The publishing industry as a whole is
decreasing the barriers for new actors to participate and enact change in the
publishing network (Jenkins 2004).
Publishing models have
been restructured to fit digital media in order to stay relevant and while
transmedia content proves the migration of audiences can dismantle the
publishing industry, technological convergence could also argue that both new
and traditional publishing are sharing their audiences with each other. Digital
and networked media both add and dismantle the publishing industry.
What
is the publishing industry becoming and how is it doing so?
As previously
mentioned, the publishing industry is not being wiped out of existence instead
it is surviving through adapting the digital publishing industry’s model.
Cyberspace is an untapped potential for economic innovation, media industries
will therefore have to face ‘deconstruction’ and ‘disintermediation’
(Nightingale & Dwyer 2007, p.23). As digital media offers increased reach
and richness of information, newspapers and magazines have to employ unexplored
and digitised tactics in order to keep the print publishing industry afloat. This
coincides with Shirky’s (2009) claim that: “nothing will work, but everything
might. Now is the time for experiments, lots and lots of experiments, each of
which will seem as minor at launch as craigslist did, as Wikipedia did, as
octavo volumes did.”
For example, print book
publishing has transitioned into a more digital format through e-readers such
as the kindle or iPad. Online news stories generally allow people to share
noteworthy articles online, but also the ability of the internet to store and archive
media content within small devices becomes an attractive commodity for users.
Newsworthiness is now defined by the individual and no longer monopolised by
news companies as they actively seek out content of their interests. The
industry has also altered so that multimedia platforms in news articles such as
photographs, visuals, videos and sound grabs are included in articles as to
engage the attention of the audience. What is interesting is that publications
now heavily focus on the pursuit of attention as Goldhaber (1997) suggests that
it has become a scarce resource. Sharing views and ‘likes’ have never been as
important as before leading one to believe that the publishing industry is
becoming more personalised through Web 2.0 practices.
The digitisation of
magazines, books and news articles has therefore become the rational evolution
of the publishing industry. Additionally, smartphones and other smart devices
provide evidence of digital information becoming physically accessible and
easily navigated with the point of a finger. Multiple stories can viewed at the
same time and as the use of networked technologies become more popular,
individuals are multitasking and multithreaded (Rainie & Wellman 2012). It
is much more accurate to state that traditional media is not being replaced but
weakening as the media is striving for a more communicative and symmetrical
relationships with their viewers.
On the other hand there
are some instances that show that digital industries are replacing print
publications. While for the most part, individuals are not intermediated and
are directly affecting content. Sites
like YouTube, iTunes and Amazon, replace old print publications by becoming
popular channels which distribute the content to the audience (Dix 2011). These
digital and networked media therefore takeover the route of print and
traditional media by using high speed internet to connect and distribute
information in a timeless and placeless space (Rainie & Wellman 2012). To a large extent, new media are destroying
the inefficiencies of old publishing processes whilst simultaneously giving
them more opportunities becoming a more diverse publishing industry.
Are
there new difficulties and complexities or expenses involved?
Unfortunately with this
new integrated publishing industry, new problems arise. The biggest problem of
digital publications, especially digital news companies is creating revenue
from the untapped potential of the seemingly free virtual world. As every form
of content is becoming digitised the risk of sharing this content for free
increases. The prevailing issues of online piracy and peer-to-peer sharing
become the new complexities involved with an evolved publishing industry. It is
interesting to note that audiences feel more entitled to the information given
in the internet, and thus expect and desire for information to be free. This
makes it more difficult for ‘paywall’ subscriptions, native advertising and
other techniques to create streams of revenue for the online industry to
implement. Shirky (2009) notes that “walled gardens would prove unpopular”
since it voluntarily cuts off the communication between the publishing industry
and the user. Native advertising on the other hand provides content which
seamlessly advertises a product through the same platform. For example a New
York Times article advertised the television show ‘Orange is the New Black’ by
showing the patterns of female inmates in US prisons (Deziel 2014). The problem
with this form of revenue stream is that articles published may be disingenuous
about the purpose of being written. News journalism provides the role of the
Fourth Estate, but when advertising is in play the news agenda may become
corrupted (Nightingale & Dwyer 2007).
Furthermore, online
news organisations now run in 24 hour segments, meaning critical and long form
journalism is being replaced by the competition to be current and trending at
all times. This therefore alters the way articles are written, fact checking is
not as thorough and therefore publications have a higher risk of distributing
false or biased information. The need for hastily written reporting means that
quality is severely affected (Meyer 2010). To bring in more audiences, online
content competes for the audiences’ attention, meaning the need to
sensationalise events (such as click bait) is greatly amplified by digital
publishing. Equally, due to information overload, audiences cannot absorb the
vast amount of information available to them and therefore a dependence on
digital media is created, which could become a potential problem to how they
conduct themselves in the real world. These consequences suggest that while new
technologies are arguably improving the condition of the publishing industry,
this does not mean that it completely solves the problems of the industry
itself.
 |
| The digital world has a number of problems to deal with |
Conclusion:
To a large extent
Shirky’s (2009) claim holds true, as one cannot deny that digital and networked
media have altered traditional media processes and practices. However, to say
that the digital has completely replaced print might be overestimating the power
of new technologies. These technologies add to the experience of the
traditional publishing industry and help keep it alive. Certain aspects such as
distribution and digitisation dismantle the industry but allow opportunities
for networked individuals to become actors that influence the publishing
industry themselves. Regardless of these changes, the dominant digital
publishing industry will face new challenges in terms of profit-making and
content creation. By continuously experimenting with the social and media
climate, the publishing industry can hope to evolve.
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