NEWS DISTRIBUTION VIA THE INTERNET AND OTHER NEW ICT PLATFORMS by John O ’Sullivan A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MA by Research School of Communications Dublin City University September 2000 Supervisor: Mr Paul McNamara, Head of School I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of MA in Communications, is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others, save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. I LIST OF TABLES Number Page la, lb Irish Internet Population, Active Irish Internet Population 130 2 Average Internet Usage By Country, May 2000 130 3 Internet Audience by Gender 132 4 Online Properties in National and Regional/Local Media 138 5 Online Properties in Ex-Pat, Net-only, Radio-related and Other Media 139 6 Journalists’ Ranking of Online Issues 167 7 Details of Relative Emphasis on Issues of Online Journalism 171 Illustration: ‘The Irish Tex’ 157 World Wide Web references: page numbers are not included for articles that have been sourced on the World Wide Web, and where a URL is available (e.g. Evans 1999). ACKNOWLEDGMENTS With thanks and appreciation to Emer, Jack and Sally, for love and understanding, and to my colleagues, fellow students and friends at DCU, for all the help and encouragement. Many thanks also to those who agreed to take part in the interviews. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. I n t r o d u c t i o n ......................................................................................................................................................6 2. Review of the literature - theoretical and economic backgrounds ...........................11 2.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................. 11 2.2 Culture, media and journalism....................................................................................................................11 2.3 Economic and political perspectives of ICTs........................................................................................... 38 3. Review of the literature - public spheres of the Internet ..................................................61 3.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................61 3.2 The politics of virtuality.............................................................................................................................. 61 3.3 Community and activism............................................................................................................................ 68 3.4 Media forms and news directions...............................................................................................................82 3.5 Self-censorship............................................................................................................................................. 92 3.6 Layers of interactivity...................................................................................................................................99 3.7 Speed and accuracy.................................................................................................................................... 108 3.8 Return of the partisan................................................................................................................................113 4. M ethodology ................................................................................................................................................117 4.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................117 4.2 Irish net news in practice.......................................................................................................................... 117 4.3 Changing patterns........................................................................................................... 120 4.4 Interviews................................................................................................................................................... 121 5. News in new media: Ireland in context..................................................................................... 129 5.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................129 5.2 Growth in the online population............................................................................................................. 129 5.3 More audience for news?.......................................................................................................................... 133 5.4 More news for the audience?....................................................................................................................136 6. Change and the information environm ent .............................................................................. 148 6.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................148 6.2 Self-publishing............................................................................................................................................148 6.3 The DIY editor.......................................................................................................................................... 154 6.4 Voices o ff................................................................................................................................................... 159 6.5 Closer to the source...................................................................................................................................163 7. W hat journalists think ........................................................................................................................... 166 7.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................166 7.3 Responses of the participants....................................................................................................................172 8. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 224 8.1 Media’s new layers............................................................................................................. 224 D e f in itio n s a n d g lo s s a r y ...........................................................................................................................229 Bibliography............................................................................................................230 John O'Sullivan NEWS DISTRIBUTION VIA THE INTERNET AND OTHER NEW ICT PLATFORMS ABSTRACT The Internet has opened up the world of journalism to a new set of influences. It provides a new media platform that is o f relevance across the spectrum of communications perspectives, as well as offering fresh impetus to economic theories on the nature o f information. This study provides an overview o f the place o f news journalism in the new information environment fashioned by the Internet. Major trends identified include the building of online communities, the exploration of the democratic potential of online citizenship, and the developing potential for the bypassing of traditional media gatekeepers. New ICTs provide journalists and publishers with fresh outlets for content. However, the process of generating that content is fundamentally altered by the new possibilities for disintermediation, including 'everyman ’ journalism, activist publishing and official Internet publishing by the state and others. The Internet is seen to add to the impetus towards globalisation and corporate consolidation, even as it lowers barriers to entry to media and permits greater diversity. Against the rhetoric of cyber-libertarianism and free market ideologies that influence much discussion of ICTs, actual Internet communications developments are observed, journalists in online and traditional media entities are interviewed, and a structured assessment is made of the current state of Internet news publishing in Ireland. Development of the Internet as a new publishing medium is assessed as modest but significant, not least for its introduction of greater interactivity, which indicates the beginning of a shift from the broadcast, few-to-many model of media to a more open environment, potentially acting as a counterweight to massification and conglomeration. For the most part, journalists in Ireland show a real appreciation of Internet issues, and, while they readily recognise changes in the information environment, they remain confident of the central role of journalism in public discourse. Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION At first glance, news and the Internet are made for one another. Speed is all, distance is nothing, space for content is unlimited. News can be fast but at the same time have depth, and doesn’t require a multi-million pound web offset press to publish. Democracy1 is served because the smallest group has the same technical