Online research
Top research prize 2009 in Austin, Texas Online Journalism Symposium
In April 2009 my research paper about ‘online-only newspaper’ models (edited and co-authored with Neil Thurman) won a top research prize in USA.
“Taking the paper out of news: A case study of Taloussanomat, Europe’s first online-only newspaper” won the ‘top paper’ title at the International Symposium for Online Journalism in Austin, Texas. You can read the research paper here.
One of the key findings of the study was that abandoning the traditional print newspaper and going online-only does not guarantee immediate profitable future for a newspaper.
The paper focussed on a case study about Finnish business daily, Taloussanomat, and found that while the newspaper’s costs fell 52 percent when its presses were silenced, revenue also dropped—by at least 75 percent—due to loss of print advertising and subscription income. However, in absolute terms, the cost savings more than offset the loss of income because the title had been losing money for some time
My research also raised concerns about quality of online journalism and the ‘clicking culture’ which is having a great impact on journalism. The same concern is also reflected in my interview published by Finnish Embassy web-site in London.
“Whereas newspapers did not used to be so concerned with their readers, today they seem to do everything to get them to their sites. This is most obvious trend in online newspapers which are creating outrageous headlines to get maximum number of “clicks” and maximum amount of advertising revenue.”
The case study of Taloussanomat created huge interest in world media and was covered by world media including Wall Street Journal, AFP, Guardian, Journalism.co.uk as well as by Columbia Journalism Review.
