Moving Newspapers Online: Newspaper Diversification and Viability (1990-2010) Open Access

Nalkur, Sonal Gersappa (2013)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/4q77fr95m?locale=en
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Abstract

Traditional print newspapers have not thrived in the digital age. The number of print newspapers ceasing operations in recent years has increased just as the number of online news sources has increased. Online news production has involved much more than merely a shift from print to digital media, as the forms of news content and the organizations that deliver that content have been affected as well. The primary goal of this dissertation is to better understand the role newspapers have played in the construction of the online news world and how their involvement, in turn, affected their own viability. To illuminate the various factors that contributed to the rise of online news, I employ the Production of Culture analytic approach and demonstrate the ways in which government policy, occupational environments, changes in media ownership, and conceptions of newspaper audiences enabled and constrained online newspaper production. I then use event history analysis to examine the timing of key events that occurred for newspapers over twenty years, and employ neoinstitutional and ecological theoretical perspectives to illuminate my findings. More specifically, I quantitatively examine the factors that influenced 1) the year an existing newspaper decided to go online and 2) the year a newspaper ceased operations for all English daily newspapers in New York and Illinois.

Together, these empirical examinations demonstrate that the demise of newspapers is not merely a function of "supply and demand," so much as it is powerfully influenced by changes in production systems that extend far beyond newspapers. I find that high- and low-circulation newspapers were impacted by the diversification efforts of their peers, while medium-circulation newspapers were moved more by high-circulation or "successful" newspapers. Environmental factors, such as the previous year's activities - particularly with respect to newspaper failures and the online density of high-circulation dailies - characterized the organizational environment for failing newspapers of the time. Diversification was not achieved by publishers that made "daring moves" into new, unknown lines of business. Instead, for newspapers, diversification was evidence of environmental factors that "launched" a new industry in complex but interconnected ways.

Table of Contents

Chapter Title

Page

List of Tables and Figures

Introduction

1

Chapter 1: Production of Culture Approach to Online Newspapers

The Production of Culture Perspective - An Introduction

Law and Regulation

Technology

Industry Structure

Organizational Structure

Occupational Careers

Market

Discussion of "Why 1955?" by Richard Peterson

Legislation and Regulation

Technology

Industry Structure

Organizational Structure

Occupational Careers

Market Factors

Methods

The Newspaper Industry and Its Move Online

Technology

The Internet Infrastructure

The Web Interface

Continued Innovation of Newspapers

Law and Regulation

The 1996 Telecommunications Act

The Impact of the Telecom Act on Newspapers

1998 United States v. Microsoft Case

The Impact of the Microsoft Ruling on Newspapers

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The 2001 AOL-Time Warner Merger

The Impact on Newspapers

Industry Structure

Ownership & Newspapers

Funding, Content, and Online Newspapers

Organizational Structure

Occupational Career/Labor

Market

Discussion & Conclusion

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Chapter 2 Online Product Diversification (1990-2010)

Introduction

Historical Overview : From Print to Online, and in Between

Changes in Journalism

The Internet and the News

The Movement of Newspapers into Online News

Imitation and Density: Lessons from the California Thrift Industry

Density and Previous Entrants

Isomorphism and Institutional Logics

Data Sources

Methods

Dependent Variables

Independent Variables

Table 2-0. Descriptive Statistics: Independent Variables

Results and Discussion

Table 2-1a Diversification Trends among NY English Dailies

Table 2-1b Diversification Trends among IL English Dailies

Table 2-2a. Annual Trends and Circulation Rates by Organization Size among NY English Dailies

Table 2-2b. Annual Trends by Organization Size and Circulation Rates among IL English Dailies

Table 2-3. Large Organizations: Entry into Online News Arena

Table 2-4. Medium Organizations: Entry into Online News Arena

Table 2-5. Medium Organizations: Entry into Online News Arena

Conclusion

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Chapter 3: The Viability of Newspapers in an Online Age

Introduction

Historical Overview : The Fall of the Business of Print

Saving Print Newspapers Through Technological Innovation

Saving Print Newspapers through Consolidation and Media Ownership

Organizations and Structural Inertia: Lessons from Finnish Newspapers

Methods

Data Sources

Dependent Variables

Independent Variables

Results and Discussion

Table 3-1a. Print Newspapers that "Failed" (and Closed Completely)

Table 3-1b. Print Newspapers that "Merged" Editorial and Publishing Divisions

Table 3-2. Descriptives of Ecological Variables by Year

Table 3-3. Impact of Large Organizations Going Online (Large Density) on Failure of all Newspapers

Table 3-4. Impact of Large Density (Moving Online) on Failure of Small Organizations (or merger)

Conclusion

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Conclusion

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Appendix

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Table A1. Independent Variables - Summary Table, Definitions

Table A2. Pearson Correlation Coefficients for Demographic and Ecological Variables, N = 1265

Table A3. Ecological Variables - Ecological Variables, Descriptives Over Time

Table A4. Sample Coding Scheme for "Clocks"

Bibliography

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List of Tables and Figures

Tables

Page

Table 2-1a Diversification Trends among NY English Dailies

Table 2-1b Diversification Trends among IL English Dailies

Table 2-2a. Annual Trends and Circulation Rates by Organization Size among NY English Dailies

Table 2-2b. Annual Trends by Organization Size and Circulation Rates among IL English Dailies

Table 2-3. Large Organizations: Entry into Online News Arena

Table 2-4. Medium Organizations: Entry into Online News Arena

Table 2-5. Medium Organizations: Entry into Online News Arena

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Table 3-1a. Print Newspapers that "Failed" (and Closed Completely)

Table 3-1b. Print Newspapers that "Merged" Editorial and Publishing Divisions

Table 3-2. Descriptives of Ecological Variables by Year

Table 3-3. Impact of Large Organizations Going Online (Large Density) on Failure of all Newspapers

Table 3-4. Impact of Large Density (Moving Online) on Failure of Small Organizations (or merger)

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156

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160

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