Online uudised Eesti ajalehtedes

Date

2003

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Abstract

Description

This research is about a new feature in media environment- Online journalism. More precisely, it is about Online editions of printed newspapers. The author has himself been involved in establishing an Online edition with Äripäev, the Estonian business daily newspaper. Online journalism started in mid-1990s together with rapid development of internet and new media. First, the newspapers attached their content to the web. This old news that was put to the web was called shovelware. Soon Online editions emerged with their own original content that was published in internet and consumed in the net. This kind of news and journalism was called Online journalism. There has not been a lot of research on Online journalism in Estonia. There is a single paper written by a student from Concordia International University. The paper is about online editions in Estonia, their history, present situation and future perspectives. The current paper aims to dig into the core of Online journalism, what it really is, how it is produced, published and consumed. Empirical research among 46 Estonian newspaper editors and reporters showed that in publishing Online news they prefer the so-called Organizational Model, practiced by newspaper Äripäev. This model means structural reorganizing among the present media organization. The basic idea of the model is: single organization, multiple channels. Äripäev was the first in Estonia to launch Online news service in year 2000 and the model was a result of preparatory work that lasted for several months. The main positive features of this model are low entry costs and synergies, that allow several other services besides Online news. So Äripäev launched WebTV service in 2000 with no additional labor costs. The model has several weaknesses, one of them is low morale and motivation among the reporters, who should work harder and produce more news than before. But this weakness can be overcome by enhancing the motivation strategies and educational programs. The other model, the so-called Online Unit Model (OUM), is used by other Estonian newspapers and most of the Online newspapers in the world. According to this model a new department or unit is formed with 3-4 people working for it. This model has one great virtue: all the other journalists are happy except those working for the Online department. The small group has tough times with producing over 100 news in a day, this means about 25 news per person in a single day. That would be exhausting in longer perspective. Also, the few people tend to produce less attractive news and rely on press releases as this is the easier way out. OUM means extra market entry costs for hiring journalists and renting or buying office facilities for them. Calculations show that the extra costs amount to 1,5 million kroons (USD 100 000) in the first year. That is about 10% of the publisher profit. Another part of the current paper, empirical research among the readers of Äripäev showed that the willingness of reading Online news is rather weak. According to the research only 1/3 of the 76 questioned readers answered they read the Online news. Of those, who read the Online news, only 1/3 said they read them every day. The Online news is mostly read 2–3 times a week, just like the printed version of Äripäev. Daily, the number of Online news read is 1-5 among 80% of readers. Only 20% said they read over 5 news a day, but nobody reported of reading over 10 news a day. The Online news are read in a manner of “surfing” the headlines. So, as research shows, scoops and news about celebrities have more readers. The key for reading an Online news lies in the headline. As most read news in Äripäev Online collect up to 1000 clicks a day, the least have 10-20. The least read news have monotonous headlines. The final chapter of present work is about a recent phenomenon among Online news- this is the so-called Online Cannibalism that is described as the negative impact of Online news to the readership of printed newspapers. In last 3 years the readership of the daily newspapers has dropped by 1/10 or by 30-40 000 in numbers. This is right the amount of readers that the Online news had in autumn 2002 according to a poll provided by Saar Poll market research company. To come out of the “cannibalist” situation the printed newspapers should either to close their Online sites and let only the subscribers in, or to risk with losing readers. By 2003 the largest newspapers SL Õhtuleht and Postimees had closed their sites until 7 p.m. and 2 p.m. respectively, while Päevaleht continues the open policy. Äripäev did close its website already in 2001 and its printed edition hasn`t lost readers. While Äripäev closed both its Online news site and the mirror of newspaper on the net, Postimees left Online site open. SL Õhtuleht, the newspaper with highest circulation in Estonia does not have an Online news service at all. Besides printed papers Online Cannibalism hurts news agencies. Reuters closed its news department in Tallinn in 2001 and from February, 1 in 2003 ETA, the oldest and formerly largest news agency ended up with bankruptcy. The only left news agency in Estonia BNS tells it does not feel any impact of free online content, but it seems not to be true. The former ETA`s employees told the author of this research the main reason of collapse were the emerged Online news editions. There is no reason to pay for agency news, when you can read the same news at the same time without any fees. Besides the Online sites of newspapers a free Online news feed is provided by Delfi, an internet gateway like Yahoo.com. The research among the media agents, editors, journalists and readers shows that in spite of all the recent problems with Internet and related business, the Online news have found its place among other media. The online content did not kill printed newspapers, but they found their place as television found its place half a century ago besides radio and newspapers.

Keywords

H Social Sciences (General), bakalaureusetööd

Citation