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Diversity of Journalisms. Proceedings of <strong>ECREA</strong>/CICOM Conference, Pamplona, 4-5 July 2011<br />

Changing News Formats in Online Newspapers<br />

Panu Uotila<br />

University of Jyväskylä, Finland<br />

Abstract<br />

This paper examines <strong>the</strong> different methods of news presentation online compared to<br />

print media in three different countries: Finland, Great Britain and United States. The<br />

study scrutinizes two key dimensions: news values and <strong>the</strong> structure of <strong>the</strong> news<br />

stories by combining quantitative and qualitative content analysis. My argument is<br />

that online news journalism makes greater use of <strong>the</strong> ‘inverted pyramid’ structure<br />

combining it with hyperlinks. Online news journalism is becoming more<br />

commercialized, more localized and softer, while at <strong>the</strong> same time opening up<br />

towards a more deliberative, and more opinion oriented approach to news.<br />

Commercialization leads online news presentation towards to <strong>the</strong> ‘tabloidization’: <strong>the</strong><br />

news are presented in a more simplified, personalized and dramatized way and <strong>the</strong><br />

most important news value is <strong>the</strong> attractiveness of <strong>the</strong> story. This paper is ‘work in<br />

progress’ and it is based on my PhD study.<br />

Keywords: Online journalism, news values, crossmedia, news consumption, media<br />

economics, media convergence, intermediality<br />

Introduction<br />

The emergence of <strong>the</strong> Internet’s virtual communication space has challenged<br />

traditional journalism and journalistic work processes in many ways. By making online<br />

newspapers possible, <strong>the</strong> Internet has changed newspaper readers’ information<br />

consumption habits and behaviour, and as a consequence has brought about<br />

dramatic declines in newspaper circulation in many technologically developed<br />

countries.<br />

The revolution of media system has been dramatic. Nowadays eight out of ten<br />

Americans say <strong>the</strong> Internet is a critical source of information in <strong>the</strong>ir lives (Project for<br />

Excellence in Journalism, 2008). In a worldwide survey of newspaper editors, 44<br />

percent of <strong>the</strong> respondents believed that, in 10 years, most people would be reading<br />

<strong>the</strong>ir news online (World Association of Newspapers, 2008). Particularly young<br />

readers have changed <strong>the</strong>ir reading habits from printed newspapers to <strong>the</strong> digital<br />

media. In United States among readers 18 to 24 years of age, only 31 percent say<br />

<strong>the</strong>y read a newspaper yesterday, according to data from Scarborough Research.<br />

(Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2009)<br />

369

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